QSR June 2023

DEPARTMENT ONES TO WATCH

Cupbop With a convenient take on a trendy cuisine, the emerging brand aims to become the first national Korean quick-service chain. BY SAM DANLEY

Kwon gave Song a call and pitched him self as a partner. He says it was evident the demand for the brand was there, but Cup bop was struggling to “take things to the next level.” It had grown to 10 locations while he was in New York, but he knew he could help it expand further. So, he left the finance world, purchased equity in the com pany, and got to work developing a strategy that would enable the business to scale effi ciently. Early on, Kwon decided to pivot from food trucks and channel all of the com pany’s resources toward brick-and-mortar restaurants. He says Cupbop had to dial back on growth to position itself for future success. That meant foregoing aggressive development goals to focus on the funda mentals. “My priority is never store count,” Kwon says. “What really makes a brand special is the inherent demand you can generate, and that comes down to AUVs, margin profiles, and same-store sales.” He isn’t the only former fan that’s help ing Cupbop grow its footprint. Not long after Song opened his food truck, he met a pair of Indonesian students studying at the University of Utah. They struck up a part nership, and the company now has more than 150 locations throughout the South east Asian country. Stateside, the company has taken a mea sured approach to growth. It hasn’t raised any money and has grown through organic cash flow, building one store at a time. When Kwon joined, Cupbop had a sole franchisee that had been grandfathered in since 2017. Despite a steady stream of inquiries from outside operators, he resisted opening the brand up for additional fran chising opportunities. “One thing I learned as an investor is that a lot of great companies fail when they start growing for CONTINUED ON PAGE 62

Junghun Song (left) and Dok Kwon have big plans for the Korean fast-casual segment.

officer in 2020, after working as an invest ment banker and hedge fund manager in New York City. He’d spent the better part of a decade on Wall Street and was “itch ing for something new.” As he was plotting his next move, he remembered Cupbop, a food truck he frequented while living in Salt Lake City. When fellow Korean immigrant Jung Song first started serving up Korean bar becue under the Cupbop banner in 2013, Kwon was one of the earliest fans. “One thing I knew right off the bat, before I even joined, was that the brand is naturally very scalable,” Kwon says. “That has to do with the fact that it started with a food truck, where you can run in very small spaces with only a few people, and where the operations have to be extremely simple.”

AMONG THE COUNTRY’S TOP 50 QUICKSERVICE chains, Panda Express stands out as the only Asian concept. Dok Kwon believes there’s room for more, and he wants Cupbop to be next. The emerging brand is on a mission to be the first Korean-inspired fast-casual chain to go national. Kwon joined the Korean barbecue con cept as a co-owner and chief operating FOUNDERS: Junghun Song HEADQUARTERS: Salt Lake City, Utah YEAR STARTED: 2013 ANNUAL SALES: ~$40 million (systemwide) TOTAL UNITS: 47 (U.S. only) FRANCHISED UNITS: 19 (U.S. only)

CUPBOP

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JUNE 2023 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com