Lotteria is dead. Long live Zetteria.

It is always sad when a trusted friend and upstanding member of the community passes away, so it’s with heavy hearts that we announce all of the remaining Lotteria fast food burger joints in Japan will be no more by 31 March.

The first Lotteria appeared back in 1972, originally as a way for the snack company Lotte to let people sample their ice cream, with the name being a mash-up of “Lotte” and “cafeteria.” However, as the years went by, they found a niche in more Japanese-oriented fast foods like their shrimp burger, which was a novelty at the time.

▼ We have Lotte to thank for those delicious Yukimi Daifuku mochi-covered ice cream balls.

The chain’s growth in Japan peaked in 2009 with 524 locations nationwide, but that number has been on a steady decline ever since. Currently, there are only 106 Lotteria restaurants in operation across Japan. However, this wasn’t due purely to closures. A number of these former Lotteria locations have been reinvented as Zetteria restaurants since 2023.

▼ This is the exact same restaurant branch as the one pictured at the top of this article.

Zetteria both is and isn’t Lotteria. The name is a result of Lotte Holdings’ controlling stake in the chain having been bought by Zensho, a holding company that owns a number of other restaurant chains, such as beef bowl dealer Sukiya and Japan’s version of Big Boy, which mostly sells steaks and hamburgers without the buns.

Zetteria’s menu shares many of the same names as Lotteria’s, but the presentation may vary. For example, Lotteria’s popular Zeppin Burgers can be found in Zetteria, but are sometimes differently shaped and use different buns. On the other hand, limited-edition sandwiches like Lotteria’s Okonomiyaki Burger were just as easily found at Zetteria.

▼ Mr. Sato found these Zeppin burgers at Zetteria in September 2023…

▼ …but then found these different Zeppin Burgers there in May 2025.

Now it looks like Zensho is finally ready to deliver the coup de grâce and will replace all remaining Lotteria restaurants with Zetteria by the end of this fiscal year. If anything, this ought to put an end to all the confusion of having Lotteria and Zetteria coexisting was causing, according to online comments about the news.

“I just thought those were knock-off restaurants.”
“I can’t blame them, I guess. Why keep another company’s name on it?”
“I just hope they keep the shrimp burgers.”
“They should have done it sooner.”
“The old Zeppin Cheeseburgers were too small and never left me satisfied.”
“Lotteria’s better than Burger King.”
“I really like how they put lots of pepper on stuff.”
“Zetteria always gives discounts on Uber Eats.”
“I hope they don’t screw around with the menu too much.”

Some readers in other countries might be wondering what this means for the Lotteria restaurants near them. Well, the answer is absolutely nothing.

That’s because Lotteria restaurants in Japan were owned by the original company, Lotte Holdings, whereas all Lotteria restaurants outside of Japan are run by Lotte Group, the subsequent but more powerful Korean arm of the Lotte business empire. Their subsidy Lotte GRS is currently still in charge of all non-Japanese Lotterias and doesn’t seem like it’s making changes anytime soon. In fact, the very first American Lotteria just opened last year.

As for Japan, whether this is good news or bad depends on whether you see the brand name as half empty or half full.

Source: Nikkei Shimbun, My Game News Flash, Fullerton Observer
Photos ©SoraNews24
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