Dallas — Bonchon, a global leader in Korean fried chicken, is marking a franchise milestone with its 150th U.S. location, which opened in February. The Jonesboro, Ark., location was Bonchon’s first restaurant in the state with additional Arkansas stores to open this year. Bonchon’s strong start to 2025 also involved entering new markets in Florida, Arkansas and Iowa.
“This year is off to an exciting start with new store openings and franchise agreements, bringing Bonchon’s craveable Korean fried chicken to even more guests,” says Bonchon CEO Suzie Tsai. “We’re accelerating successful initiatives from 2024 for the good of our franchise family and customers.”
Bonchon supports franchisees with a distinctive menu, integrated technology stack, flexible store formats and optimized operational tools.
The restaurant brand anticipates that technology adoption will increase with many existing and new stores introducing kiosks. Through its partnership with Bite, Bonchon’s kiosks give customers a user-friendly, intuitive ordering experience. In tests, kiosk orders resulted in higher check totals and more satisfied guest experiences.
Catering will be a focus in 2025 following an impressive foundational year. Catering spiked by 54% in 2024 from 2023, due to technology adoption and thoughtful decisions like menu optimization and packaging enhancements to upgrade the catering experience. Korean fried chicken is newer to the catering space and a growing number of Bonchon restaurants are focused on large-scale catering opportunities.
Last year, Bonchon opened new stores in California, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Colorado, New York, Alabama and New Jersey.
South Korea-born Bonchon, which translates as “my hometown,” was established in the United States in 2006. For more information, visit www.bonchon.com.
SOURCE: Bonchon