Bonchon USA Inc. is opening its first location in the greater San Fernando Valley region.
The Dallas-based chicken franchiser will open a store at 24919 Pico Canyon Road in Stevenson Ranch; the company’s website states that the location is “coming soon.”
Bonchon also has locations in L.A. County in Artesia and San Gabriel.
Founded in 2002 in Busan, South Korea, by Jinduk Seo, Bonchon – Korean for “my hometown” – opened its first store in the United States four years later in New York City.
“When police were dispatched to manage traffic around the new restaurant, I knew we had a winning formula,” Seo said at the time, according to the company’s website.
The company has roughly 119 franchised locations in the United States and a total of about 415 globally, through the U.S. subsidiary’s parent Bonchon International Inc. All but five stores are owned by franchisees.
In other news, the U.S. division named Suzie Tsai its new chief executive this month. She replaces Bryan Shin, who will focus on global expansion as international chief executive and group chief financial officer, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.
Tsai has worked in marketing and branding with such brands as On the Border Mexican Grill and Cantina, Chili’s Grill & Bar, KidZania, and Verizon Communications Inc., Nation’s Restaurant News added.
“Bonchon continues to evolve and strengthen critical elements in our offerings, from menu and technology, to store formats that reach our customers when and where they get that one-of-a-kind Bonchon craving,” she said. “We look forward to breaking into new territories and exploring possibilities in the years to come.”