Suzie Tsai, CEO of Bonchon US, sees a growing acceptance for Korean flavors.
“I’m a Korean-American,” Tsai said. “With so much interest in Korean culture and food, growth has been phenomenal for us.”
The Dallas-based division of Bonchon has more than 140 units in the United States and more than 500 globally. Tsai was named CEO of the U.S. division in January.
Tsai will discuss “Finding the Right Niche in a Trending Category” during a 1 p.m. CDT Ask the Experts panel on Oct. 10 at the CREATE the Future of Foodservice conference in Nashville, Tenn.
The spice level at Bonchon has been helpful to growth, Tsai said, with the brand offering two spice levels in its signature sauces: soy-garlic and spicy.
“Our spicy is really spicy, even for me,” she said, adding that her favorite menu item is the spicy chicken with sides of radish and fried rice. “We make an awesome fried rice and everybody should try it,” she said.
Digital off-premises sales have been growing since the COVID 19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, Tsai added.
“Like a lot of the restaurant brands out there,” Tsai noted, “our digital sales have been growing and our share now is about 40% in the digital space. She added that the Bonchon menu works well in the to-go space.
“No matter where you're consuming it, the crunch, the juiciness, and the flavors travel really well,” Tsai said. “We got really lucky with that.”
Bonchon continues to improve its packaging and meal bundles for to-go orders, Tsai noted.
“We brought on Olo this year to greatly enhance our online ordering experience and that's really paying off for us,” Tsai said. “And our catering business has really flourished. It's very new in the category to be able to get Korean food in the catering business. and it is winning guests who are used to sandwiches and Mexican and Italian.”
The simplicity of the Bonchon menu has helped smooth the move into catering, Tsai said.
“Our menu is fairly simple,” she said. “We focus in on fried chicken. We can cater any number, there's no limit. And we do get those orders ahead, so our operators are able to execute to any size. I haven't heard of a limit yet.”
The spice level is moderate by Nashville hot standards, Tsao added.
“It's a tolerable spice level,” she said. “Koreans, while we enjoy spice, we want it to be enjoyable”
Marketing that spice level has changed in the past few years as well, she said.
“We're in the social space,” Tsai said. “We get lot of users that engage with us. And I think that's such a blessing that people love to post about our food and people love to video eating our food. While we kind of maintain this this magic about our food and our experience, you know, our guests engaging with us that way is awesome. And we definitely interact with them, reach out to them. TikTok has been big for us.”
Bonchon’s menu is very shareable, Tsai added.
“People don't mind eating by themselves and sharing it with the world in the social space,” she said. “And we find out how people are eating our food, and how they're sharing our food. And it's just such a shareable both as food and shareable in the social space with other people. And that draws a huge attention organically. And we really leverage a lot of that on that.”
Tsai will talk about running the business during a challenging environment and “what sort of things you can do to protect your core business and continue to grow” during her Oct. 10 CREATE presentation.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
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