Hallyu, South Korean pop culture, continues to forge ahead around the globe, with K-pop powerhouses unrelenting in finding new avenues outside the entertainment field.
One of the biggest current trends involves celebrities and entertainment agencies entering the food-and-beverage scene.
Many stars have opened their own cafes or dining establishments, such as Grill5taco owned by Super Junior’s Dong-hae, JYJ Junsu’s Misarang Imshil Cheese Pizza, and G-Dragon’s Cafe Monstant Aewol on Jejudo Island.
The country’s leading K-pop agencies are also penetrating the food market with eyes set on pioneering a chain of Korean cuisine eateries outside the peninsula.
Following the unveiling last year of its SMTOWN@Coex Atrium – an entertainment hub in the centre of Gangnam with a store, theatre, studio and a cafe – SM Entertainment forged ahead with its third attempt at the restaurant business. It opened the five-storey multi-complex restaurant SMT Seoul in January in the posh Seoul neighbourhood of Cheongdam-dong.
The eatery not only offers a variety of fusion food options such as Seoul-style tapas, it also oozes K-pop goodness – hologram projections of the agency’s artists – making it the ultimate dining option for die-hard fans.
The agency aims to open an SMT Tokyo and an SMT LA sometime later this year. “Creating a global establishment was the plan for our restaurant ventures from the start,” says a representative. “The concept for SMT Seoul meets our aim of having Korean food tasted at an international level.”
Despite its ambitions, the restaurant marks SM’s third attempt at penetrating the food market. In 2008 it opened a restaurant called e-table, but that closed three years later. In 2012 SM was set to open a pub named Chi Mc in collaboration with local hamburger joint Kraze, but that was shelved at the last minute.
“Having run a number of test runs in the restaurant business in the past, we now feel we possess the know-how,” the spokesperson says.
SM founder Lee Soo-man earlier this year announced further expansion of its celebrity-based merchandise stores and other overseas projects. “SM has now come of age and is looking forward to taking another leap,” he said. “We will accomplish the world’s greatest ‘blooming of culture’.”
Rivalling SM is YG Entertainment with its Yang Hyun-suk cafeteria at its headquarters, much publicised on television. It boasts of its notoriously tasty food on K-pop reality shows.
The subsidiary YG Foods opened its first Korean-style pub, Samgeori Pocha, in 2004, and then recruited Noh Hee-young, formerly of retail giant CJ Group, as director.
That led to the barbecue franchise called Samgeori Butchers, which debuted last June in Hongdae. In less than a year two branches of YG Republique have opened, comprising Samgeori Butchers, K Pub and a 3 Birds cafe in tourist hotspots Myeong-dong and Yeouido.
“YG Republique is not just launching in Korea – we’re preparing to expand overseas,” says a YG Foods spokesperson. Part of the plan is a YG Republique complex at the ShowDC Mall in Bangkok, opening next month. Later this year there will be more in California and China.
Meanwhile music producer Park Jin-young, who founded JYP Entertainment, has a restaurant business with hopes of global expansion, but he’s faced difficulties.
In 2012 JYP opened a chic barbecue joint called Kristalbelli near Korea Town in downtown Manhattan. Park both invented the grill used in the restaurant and wrote a grilling manual. There were plans for branches in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beijing, but the agency ended up selling the restaurant and was unable to expand the brand.
This source first appeared on The Nation Life.