SEOUL — Chipotle Mexican Grill's first restaurant in Asia has drawn hours-long lines and a wave of social media attention since opening in Seoul's Gangnam district on September 2, but whether the U.S. chain will succeed in South Korea is still an open question that early crowds alone cannot answer.

The 96-seat restaurant sits at 423 Gangnam-daero in Seocho District, a short walk from Exit 10 of Gangnam Station. It is run through S&C Restaurants Holdings, a joint venture in which Big Bite Company, an affiliate of Sangmidang Holdings, holds 51% and Chipotle holds 49%, according to the Korea Herald. Sangmidang, formerly SPC Group, is the conglomerate behind Paris Baguette and Korean operations of Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin' and Shake Shack. The deal is Chipotle's first-ever joint venture for international expansion and gives S&C exclusive rights to run the brand in Korea and Singapore.

Demand at the start was intense. Nearly a week after the opening, customers were still being told to expect waits of up to two or three hours, and about 150 people were counted in line by 11 a.m. on one Sunday, stretching more than 50 meters, according to local reporting. For some in the queue, novelty was a large part of the draw. "We've got to keep up with what's trending," said university student Kim Min-ju, who had never tried Chipotle before. "So we thought, why not give it a try? We were curious."

The build-your-own ordering process itself became a talking point. The Korea Times reported that Korean social media quickly filled with explainers on........

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