‘Black & White Chef’ Season 2 Anticipated Amidst Resurging Ticket Touting Issues
As the second season of the hit Netflix variety show ‘Black & White Chef’, which captivated South Korea with its fine dining craze last year, prepares for its December release, the issue of ticket touting, prominent during Season 1, has resurfaced.
‘Black & White Chef’ is poised to create new culinary stars with the upcoming Season 2, announced at the ‘Netflix Variety Festival 2025’. The impact of Season 1 was immense, opening viewers' eyes to a new world of cuisine. Reservations flooded in for the chefs' restaurants, leading to a fierce ‘ticket war’ reminiscent of top K-pop concerts, with thousands on waitlists and servers crashing.
This popularity inevitably led to a ‘scalping war’, similar to what is seen for concerts by top artists like Lim Young-woong, Psy, and Cho Yong-pil. Scalpers would pre-book reservations at the celebrated chefs' restaurants and resell them at exorbitant prices on second-hand trading sites to unsuspecting fans. Unlike limited-run concerts, restaurants are open year-round (excluding holidays), allowing for continuous scalping.
Season 1 winner Napoli Mafia and the uniquely lovable ‘Cooking Psycho’ Yoon Nam-no were particularly affected by the scalping and resale frenzy. Yoon Nam-no expressed his distress on social media, pleading, “Stop before I reveal my real name and number. I’m about to lose my mind. I won’t stand for this anymore. I will eradicate these brokers. One more offense and I will publicize phone numbers and real names,” issuing a stern warning. Napoli Mafia took matters into his own hands, apprehending scalpers and placing them on a permanent blacklist. Reservation rights, originally priced at 100,000 KRW for two people, were resold by brokers for up to 1.5 million KRW.
A significant challenge is that many scalpers utilize macro programs, often from overseas like China, to secure bookings in advance, making it nearly impossible for ordinary individuals to even attempt a reservation. Furthermore, the legal framework for prosecuting such scalpers is unclear. While selling concert or sports tickets for a profit is punishable under the Minor Offenses Act, restaurant reservations are not explicitly included, leaving a loophole. F&B industry professionals are calling for legislative reform.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced legislation and enforcement last March to penalize fraudulent sales using macro programs, with potential penalties of up to one year in prison or a 10 million KRW fine. However, the law's effect has been minimal, with only four suspected macro program cases investigated by the National Police Agency out of 2,224 scalping reports (0.2%), primarily due to the difficulty in technically proving macro usage.
Compounding the issue, macro programs themselves are openly traded online for as little as 10,000-20,000 KRW, enabling anyone to purchase and use them for booking. This understandably fuels frustration among legitimate consumers. Beyond the legal penalties for scalpers, there is a growing need for fundamental improvements to the reservation system, such as mandatory identity verification (like fingerprint or facial recognition) and enhanced monitoring of illegal transactions.
Chef Yoon Nam-no gained immense popularity in Season 1 of ‘Black & White Chef’ for his unique persona and exceptional culinary skills. Even before his appearance on the show, he was recognized in the gourmet world for his innovative dishes, and following his participation, his restaurant became famous for its intense reservation competition. He is now taking a strong stance against ticket touting, advocating for the restoration of a fair reservation system.