We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniel Kim. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniel below.
Daniel, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
If we were to start over, I have a much better understanding of how to deal with the city and their process to start a business. To a newbie, it seems like nothing is streamlined and coordinated so it can get confusing very early. Having a better understanding of the pace at which the city processes applications, permits, etc. would be beneficial. One of the advantages of a franchise is the process has been set by the company. You know what you need to order and from whom, logo, store layout and design have already been established and promotions and marketing are also set up. So as a small family owned business just starting out, the time to figure all that out added considerable time and costs. Knowing all that, plus knowing how you want your store set up, what equipment is necessary, would shave months off the process. Oh and I wouldn’t try to open a new business during a pandemic. That might be most important.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Mr. Bingsoo is a local, minority owned family business in Fell’s Point, Baltimore MD. We are dessert shop that serves Korean shaved ice, bubble tea, macarons, and bungeoppang/taiyaki. We wanted to bring something from our culture that is unique to the area and wouldn’t take business away from another. After many ideas, bingsoo seemed the most exciting for us and the rest of the menu fell into place. I thing the way we make our bingsoo and the recipes we use for bubble tea set us apart from others. And there are hardly, if any, other shops that offer bungeoppang/taiyaki which is popular street food from Korea and Japan. We just call it waffle fish so it’s easier to order for our customers. We are happy to bring joy and smiles to all of our customers. Hearing a customer’s reaction to our desserts is so great and motivates us to keep working hard. We also try to pay a living wage to our team members and provide a fun work environment.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
We have been fortunate to have a business in our current location for 10 years before our newest venture. It was a completely different industry but during that time, I became a board member for a couple of local business associations and had the opportunity to network with many of the area’s businesses and residents. I think we have built our reputation by establishing a good and positive presence in the neighborhood, participating in voluntary activities like neighborhood clean ups, assisting in setting up for our festivals and events, and also supporting/promoting our neighbors. Since our presence was already established, transitioning to the new journey was easier for us and our customers. Introducing the area to a new and different product was much easier.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
When we were deciding what products to sell, we wanted to collaborate with other businesses in the area. We attempted to connect with several stores with no success and were surprised with the lack of interest to work together. Our final try was with a local macaron shop and we tried to see if they wanted to sell us their macarons to resell at our store. After the flat out denial, we became frustrated. We wanted to sell macarons but didn’t want to sell our own when there was such a great store a few blocks from us. It was a blessing in disguise since that’s how we came upon bungeoppang/taiyaki (waffle fish). There were several places that provided macarons but no one in the city had waffle fish. Plus it’s Korean and went well with our shaved ice and bubble tea. So even though we had to order all new equipment and redo our menu, pivoting to a new product was much smoother.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bmoresmrbingsoo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmoresmrbingsoo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bmoresmrbingsoo
- Twitter: Bmore’s Mr. Bingsoo @MrBingsoo