This has been a milestone year for Korean fried chicken brand Bonchon, which surpassed 150 U.S. locations in February. After a strong foundational 2024, the brand is doubling down on its upgraded tech stack, catering channels and innovation pipeline as it prepares to break franchising records for the second consecutive year.
For CEO Suzie Tsai, this growth is a testament to the Bonchon team, franchisees and loyal guests. It’s also a reflection of the brand’s cult-like following, drawn to its hand-battered, double-fried, crazy crispy Korean fried chicken. Tsai says she has never been more confident in the brand’s growth strategy, as it sets its sights on strategic expansion and franchise partnerships in key markets such as Florida, Arkansas and Iowa.
“Korean fried chicken is trending internationally, so we’ve been very successful in every market that we’ve gone into,” Tsai says. “We go where there’s demand for our unique flavors, and we have been strategic in that we do well in college towns and don’t typically go into markets with a heavy Asian concentration or trade area, and this is a winning formula for us.”
According to Tsai, technology has fueled much of the brand’s momentum. Bonchon has spent the past two years evolving its tech stack—optimizing its menu, recipes and kitchen line builds to ensure ease of operation for franchisees. Through a partnership with Bite, Bonchon is rolling out kiosks to give customers a user-friendly ordering experience.
“Before we could integrate the kiosks, we had to establish a great baseline of technology. This gave us a huge experiential advantage … we’ve seen our check averages jump on the kiosks,” Tsai says. “For our brand, this technology makes sense. Our guests understand it, they love it. I’m also looking forward to doing more on the artificial intelligence side, bringing in more hospitality and suggestive selling in the future.”
However, Tsai is careful to balance this technology with the human element that defines hospitality.
“We’ll continue to bring tech to the forefront of our business until we feel like we’ve got the whole suite right, but our food really needs the human touch. People often ask about robots in the kitchen … but I haven’t seen a robot that can brush our signature fried chicken and provide that love like our humans can,” Tsai adds.
Bonchon’s catering business has skyrocketed in the past year, growing more than 54 percent. Though new to the catering space, the brand aims to become a major player in large-scale catering opportunities. That meant a full-scale overhaul—strengthening third-party delivery partnerships, revamping the menu and enhancing packaging to go all in.
“Our franchise partners had started to dabble in catering, so we took their learnings and we’ve been very aggressive in our approach to serving our community in this way,” Tsai says. “There are not many options for Korean food in the catering space, so this is a huge opportunity to stand out and really beef up our menu.”
Bonchon International R&D Chef Jae Park recently relocated to the brand’s Dallas headquarters to support the revitalization of the U.S. menu and play a central role in domestic growth. Park studied directly under Bonchon founder Jinduk Seo and has traveled the globe helping innovate menus across the brand’s 350 international locations. Now, he’s bringing that knowledge stateside. His recent dishes—Cheesy Bulgogi Rice, Bulgogi Tteokbokki and Bulgogi Stir Fry Udon—have already become fan favorites since their March debut.
“Having Chef Jae in Dallas shows how important our U.S. business is right now. Korean food is trending, and he is so aware of all the international food trends. He brings such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to menu innovation, and this pipeline will be a key strength for us,” Tsai says.
While Bonchon’s recent growth has coincided with rising global interest in Korean culture—thanks to hits like Squid Game, K-pop and K-beauty—Tsai emphasizes that the 20-year-old brand has never strayed far from its roots. As Bonchon looks to break more records this year, the focus remains on balancing heritage with innovation.
“While it seems like we’re new and trending, like we’ve just jumped into the Korean fried chicken category, we’re actually old school. Our core menu has not evolved too much, even when introducing new flavors. We’re very grounded in what Mr. Seo started in New York 20 years ago,” Tsai says. “We balance staying true to our key flavors with infusions and having fun. We want to be the Korean restaurant that Americans love.”
