The Main Course: Franchising 2.0 with Don Kwon

Franchising is a common part of the restaurant business, as it
allows more people to access the establishment worldwide. Some
restaurants stay in specific markets while others grow to become
part of a landscape featuring other ubiquitous household names.
But franchising is not always easy; it takes careful planning and
work. What do some restaurants do to ensure a successful
transition from small to widespread?


On this episode of The Main Course, host Barbara Castiglia talked
with Don Kwon, CEO (and longtime fan) of Cupbop, a restaurant
that started as a food truck in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The Cupbop
concept, in a nutshell, would be Korean barbecue in a cup,” says
Kwon. “Every cup, we have rice, cabbage, sweet potato noodles,
and the protein of the customer’s choice with our special sauce
ranging from spice level one to ten.” The restaurant franchise
now has forty-seven stores in the USA (mainly in the Midwest and
South); they have one-hundred and sixty stores in Indonesia
alone.


The main topics in this episode include:


-The importance of mainstream exposure for an emerging
restaurant.


-What makes Cupbop simple to the franchise.


-How to maintain quality when growing worldwide.


“We’ve grown from food truck to where we are, and I think the
most unique thing is that we’ve been able to grow organically
with our own cash flow, which hasn’t been easy,” says Kwon, “but
I think that’s been a testament to kind of just the uniqueness
and the resiliency of our brand, especially, you know, having to
go through COVID in the recent years.” He also notes that getting
on the hit TV show Shark Tank significantly helped the restaurant
franchise get to where it is today. “I think on the exposure
side; I think it has been absolutely helpful.”


Don Kwon worked for a hedge fund on Wall Street before becoming
part of Cupbob, which began in 2013 as a food truck headed by
Jung Song. The duo and their restaurant reached a national
presence when Mark Cuban invested $1 million to help the
franchise grow.