Brand Story
A small shop started by people who love hamburgers
Alex Place began with a love of hamburgers rather than a grand plan. The standards from that small space still guide our house-made ingredients and cooking principles.
Winter 2011
In a quiet alley in Boramae
In the winter of 2011, a small shop called Alex Place opened in a quiet alley near Boramae Station. It was a tiny micro-restaurant with just two two-seat tables — so small that four guests were enough to fill it and make it feel busy.
Alex Place did not begin with any grand ambition. The owner simply loved hamburgers so much that he thought, “If I am going to run a business anyway, let me sell what I love most.” There was no elaborate plan and no marketing strategy — only a love of hamburgers.
Those days
About ten burgers a day
Back in 2011, the idea of a “handmade burger” was still unfamiliar in Korea. Alex Place felt strange to many customers, and its burgers were priced higher than they were used to. Partly because of its modest size, the shop sold an average of only about ten burgers a day.
The shop and its sales were small, but the space was full of the owner’s passion and the customers’ curiosity. Guests hesitated at first, but once they tasted the burgers they came back. In those days Alex Place was a warm neighborhood gathering place where the owner and his guests laughed and talked together. Modest but special, the shop slowly and steadily built a following of its own.
Standards
Four seats, high standards
Though it was a micro-restaurant with only four seats, the owner’s standards for a hamburger were remarkably high. He was enough of a burger enthusiast to call it his favorite food without hesitation, and he was determined to hold the burgers he sold to a strict baseline of quality. He believed a true handmade burger means the person making it can finely control every element that determines its quality.
Made In Store
Every ingredient prepared in store
To put that philosophy into practice, he made it a rule to prepare every ingredient in store. To hold the quality he wanted, he spared no effort: grinding fresh beef for patties each morning, kneading dough and baking the buns, simmering the sauces himself. It demanded considerable time and work, but it became the core brand value of Alex Place — an operating principle kept since the shop opened in 2011.
Today
Word of mouth, and the story continues
That passion reached the customers exactly as it was. Word about the little shop slowly began to spread. The “handmade burger” that once felt unfamiliar and expensive came to be loved by many, and Alex Place earned its reputation. It became more than a burger shop: a place shaped by the owner’s dream and philosophy.
Before long the small shop was full of people looking for a distinctive taste and a story, and the owner’s passion made Alex Place shine all the brighter. His dream does not end here. Every day we work so that more people can taste these burgers, and so that more stories can be born in this little shop.
Photographs taken at the Boramae store in 2019.