From the rise of K-pop sensations like Blackpink and BTS to the surge in popularity of K-films and K-dramas, consumers around the world have shown an insatiable appetite for Korean art and culture in recent years.

“Everything Korean is cool and interesting right now,” says Suzie Tsai, CEO of Bonchon, a Korean-style fried chicken franchise. “For a growing number of people, we’ve become the place you go to get that food.”

Bonchon’s menu features a variety of Korean fare, but the undisputed star is its double-fried chicken. The hand-battered and extra-crispy product has been served with either a signature spicy sauce or a signature soy garlic sauce since the brand landed stateside in 2006. It added a new flavor profile to the mix for the first time last year with the introduction of a traditional sweet and spicy yangnyeom sauce.

Tsai says Bonchon experimented with multiple options before landing on something that “captures the essence” of Korean cuisine. The trial and error yielded a valuable insight that is shaping the brand’s approach to new product development going forward.

“We played around with some flavors that were more Asian fusion or even Chinese,” she says. “We thought maybe an orange chicken sauce or something like that would be approachable for our guests. Those types of things just didn’t stick at all. I think guests felt like they could get that somewhere else. So, we learned our lesson and realized there’s no need to fill a gap that doesn’t exist. People want something that’s unique to us or unique Korean cuisine.”

Some items at Bonchon come with an American twist, like Loaded Bulgogi Fries and Korean Donuts. It also is testing a chicken sandwich made with its flagship product. Still, the menu is mostly populated by traditional offerings like bibimbap, a Korean rice dish, and japchae, a Korean glass noodle dish. There’s also tteokbokki, a classic street food consisting of chewy rice cakes cooked in a spicy red broth.

Interest in those more traditional offerings is growing alongside the overall awareness and affinity for all things Korean. Younger guests in particular are more adventurous with their choices, so Bonchon doesn’t want to send a message that it’s altering its food to appeal to a wider swath of consumers.

“We’ve heard loud and clear that they don’t want us to turn down the flavor,” Tsai says. “If it’s meant to be spicy, they want it that way. If it’s meant to be a big portion that’s shareable, they want it that way. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our guests that they want to experience the real thing.”

Restaurants that specialize in international cuisine often look for a middle ground between authenticity and approachability when introducing lesser-known dishes, flavors, or ingredients. That’s a balancing act Curry Up Now has perfected. The Indian street food concept brings traditional flavors into new formats with playful mashups like tikka masala burritos, tandoori fried chicken sandwiches, and deconstructed samosas.

“We’re not a traditional Indian eatery, but we’re not a fusion restaurant, either,” says founder and CEO Akash Kapoor. “We’ve taken everything from burritos and pizza to raviolo and poutine and made them Indian, but the bottom line is that the flavor of the food has to be authentic. That’s always been part of our DNA, and that’s always been the premise for new product development.”

Kapoor says demand for fresh takes on international fare has steadily risen throughout the brand’s 15-year history, thanks in large part to what he calls the “globalization of the American pantry.” Now, the ongoing popularity of international food and the rapid spread of trends online is driving interest in region-specific flavors.

Curry Up Now is leaning into regionality with newer items that draw on India’s diverse culinary traditions. Last year saw the launch of Punjabi 69, a “naughty take” on the classic South Indian Chicken 65, along with Hakka Noodles, an Indian-Chinese dish that hails from east India. Other recent additions, like Chole Bhature and West Delhi Biryani, take inspiration from the country’s capital territory in the North.

“I think there’s room to grow on a lot of these menu sections,” Kapoor says. “I’ve probably called our chef seven times in the last three days with different ideas. No matter what we do, we’re going to have fun with it, and we’re going to stay away from the boring, more traditional kind of Indian menus.”

El Pollo Loco is no stranger to menu innovation, either. The brand launched a limited-edition carnitas menu and a slew of new salads last year. It also added a line of Loco Burritos Grillers made with Sonoran-style flour tortillas.

The culinary team has traveled throughout Mexico to scope out new sources of inspiration, and its headquarters isn’t far from Los Angeles, where there’s been an explosion of all different kinds of regional Mexican restaurants in recent years, says Heather Gardea, VP of R&D at the fire-grilled chicken chain.

“Sometimes, you’ll fall in love with an ingredient and try to figure out where you can put it, or maybe you’ll see the explosion of a new form that’s really taking off,” she says. “You try to follow those trends and see when it’s the right time to strike.”

The timing of a launch can make or break a new product, especially when it features a trending dish, new flavor, or novel ingredient. Gardea points to El Pollo Loco’s wildly successful Shredded Beef Birria platform as an example. It was the first quick-service restaurant to add the stew to its menu back in 2022, right as it was catching on with consumers.

“That was a big trend that we were watching for a couple of years,” she says. “You have to work with the marketing department to see when those things will be ready. Is it going to explode, or will it die out before it’s mainstream enough for us to put it on our menu?”

The brand is keeping an eye on salsa macha, a spicy topping made with peppers, nuts, and oil. Like all new additions, it’ll be incorporated into the menu in a way that promotes “safe exploration.”

“Someone coming through the drive-thru has to be willing to take a chance on something they may have never seen before, so you have to route it in a way that’s familiar to them,” Gardea says.