The Starbucks Guri Galmae drive-through store, a pet-friendly location (Starbucks Korea)


Starting in March, diners in South Korea will be able to visit restaurants and cafes with their pets without concern, as revised regulations will formally allow companion animals in food service e 야마토통기계 stablishments under specific conditions.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety amended enforcement rules under the Food Sanitation Act, which will take effect on March 1. Under the changes, g 오징어릴게임 eneral restaurants, cafes and bakeries may admit customers with pets if they meet newly established hygiene and safety standards. The move is expected to accelerate the spread of pet-friendly dining a 릴게임신천지 cross the food service industry.
Until now, the Food Sanitation Act effectively prohibited pets from entering restaurants, citing hygiene concerns and the need to separate food handling area 바다이야기APK s from animal-accessible spaces. The revised rules limit permitted animals to dogs and cats and require strict measures, including barriers to block access to kitchens and storage areas, visible signa 바다이야기꽁머니 ge at entrances and controls to prevent pets from roaming freely. Food must be covered to prevent contamination, and pet-specific tableware and waste bins must be managed separately.



Mad for Garlic introduced a pet-friendly location, the Starfield Market Gyeongsan store, in December 2025. (Mad for Garlic)


In response to the policy shift, parts of the dining industry have already begun adopting pet-friendly models. Mad for Garlic, an Italian dining franchise, has been running its Starfield Market Gyeongsan location as the brand’s first officially designated pet-friendly “With Pet” store since last month.
The Mad for Garlic Gyeongsan store has 126 seats, of which 44 are designated as a “pet zone.” The space is clearly divided into general and pet-accompanied areas to minimize inconvenience for all customers. Entry is limited to dogs under 5 kilograms and cats that have completed rabies vaccinations. Pets must remain in carriers or covered pet strollers, and all food is served with hygiene covers.
Pet-friendly formats are spreading more actively in the cafe sector, where hygiene burdens are relatively lower. Starbucks Korea operates two pet-friendly locations — the Bukhangang R store and the Guri Galmae drive-through store — which opened in January 2022 and January this year, respectively. According to Starbucks Korea, cumulative visitors to the two locations surpassed 2 million as of August 2025.
Ediya Coffee has also introduced a pet zone by fully renovating its Ediya Coffee Lab in Seoul’s Gangnam district into a multipurpose cultural space open to customers with pets.
With regulations now in place, industry observers expect pet-friendly dining to become more common, as long as hygiene and safety standards are consistently upheld.