Bored & Hungry is the first Bored Ape-themed restaurant, which started out in Long Beach, California, that has evolved as a hungry spot for NFT enthusiasts.
The burger joint might seem like a normal place for someone who passes by, but it holds more than just burgers. The owner of bored & hungry Andy Nguyen, spent thousands of dollars purchasing four Bored Ape Yacht Club to seek inspiration to create the restaurant. The burger joint was inaugurated on April 9 and has gained major attention ever since.
The entire concept seems to have performed higher than expected, as the first day brought in more than 1500 customers.
“The main bored ape which is our logo, we spent a little over $267,000 on, and on the mutant apes we spent around $65,000 to $75,000 for each one.”
Andy Nguyen
ApeCoin seems to be a lucky charm, at least for Nguyen
The Bored Ape-inspired restaurant drew inspiration from the NFTs that they purchased to display on their food packages and restaurant. The entire space turned into an ape-inspired restaurant in just three weeks.
“We’ve had people on the grand opening day fly in from Brazil. A guy came in from Miami and he came here, ate his burger, [and said] ‘I got to fly out in 2 hours.’ If you came here on grand opening day, you literally saw lines two blocks down into the neighborhood.”
Andy Nguyen
The Ape-themed restaurant was not the initial plan
Nguyen was initially thinking of opening a vegan restaurant. But he stumbled upon NFTs after he rented out the space. The decision turned out to be the best for him as people started coming from everywhere to visit the wild decorations, Ape cutouts, and slogans like “FOMO” and “The Ape-Trix.”
The entire process was made easy as the provision of Yuga Labs allows the NFT owners to monetize the apes in any way they wish to. The only requirement is to prove the ownership of the NFTs.
Customers can pay in ETH and also in ApeCoin, the active coin of the Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The restaurant was initially started with the idea of a pop-up but will eventually end up as a permanent fixture in Long Beach. Nguyen is in plans to expand the restaurant with collaborations with other IP brands and others in the NFT and web3 space.