We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful In Yeol Kwon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with In Yeol below.

In Yeol, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

When we first signed the lease for the restaurant, we imagined having a full service dining experience right from the start. We planned everything based on this, including the kitchen, interior, and the menu set up. However we did not take in to consideration how much preparation was needed to make this happen. After all, it was our first time running a restaurant on our own. The decision to only open the take-out section of the restaurant was made just 5 days before the grand opening of Noori Chicken. Thankfully our take-out and the dine-in sections were divided into two distinct areas. We were let down on the fact that we could not open fully on the grand opening. However, this turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made. The dine-in section of the restaurant was closed off for quite some time after the opening date. It would take 20 months before we opened as a full service dining. In fact, a lot happened in between the first opening date and the dine-in opening date. Two of the biggest changes since the opening date was the end of pandemic and the popularity of Korean culture throughout the United States.
I could still recall people wearing masks when we first opened our Chicken place back in December 2021. Everyone was still very cautious about making contact or entering restaurants to dine-in. Thus, only opening the take-out section ended up being advantageous for us. We were able to focus mainly on the quality of the food instead of shifting our attention too much on other things (Although our restaurant had fabulous reviews in terms of customer service). There were definitely less things for us to worry about. Noori quickly became one of the most beloved chicken restaurants in the area because of this. We put all our energy and effort on the quality of products and services instead of diverging our attention on other things like marketing and social media. The quality of the food automatically translated into marketing for us. Gradually, things changed drastically as time passed by. By the end of 2022, more and more people were willing to dine-in. The shift from take-out oriented culture to dine-in culture eventually occurred.
2023 saw a huge increase in popularity of Korean culture. This happened mostly in the entertainment industry, with Korean music and K-dramas both being mega hits all throughout the United States. This eventually led to a lot of exposure of Korean food everywhere around social media and the internet. More people were wanting to try out Korean food and wanted to experience Korean culture first hand.
These two drastic changes in culture were a huge opportunity for us. The dine-in section was already built out with tables and chairs ready to seat customers. However, we started reimagining our dine-in section completely. From menu composition to the interior design, we wanted to change every aspect of it. Instead of just a chicken restaurant with few Korean dishes and beer, we changed the concept to a Korean drinking place, “Pocha”. Pocha is similar to that of pubs in the west, but with different vibes. We wanted customers to experience Korean culture right when they step into our restaurant. It was not just the food. The atmosphere, music, food and customer service all had to be authentic for customers to feel like they were in Korea while dining in Noori Pocha. The process was brutal, however. It took close to a full year to develop new menu and to change the entire restaurant interior.
The result was more than a success. We thought our restaurant would do well, but we did not know it would turn out to be this successful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Noori Pocha is a Korean gastropub focused on giving our customers a full experience of Korean drinking culture. The moment they step into our restaurant, we provide our customers with the same experience any other Koreans would experience when they visit a pocha in Korea. This includes the food, atmosphere, music, interior design and even service. Most Korean restaurants focus on food for their authenticity, but our pocha does not stop from there. Even the smallest details such as dining chairs to a large projector screen featuring street walking in Korea truly distinguishes us from other restaurants.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Before we opened Noori, the only restaurant operating experience I had was 6 months of work experience in a Korean restaurant as a server. I was actually studying to become a business analyst, with backgrounds in economics, business, and business analytics. I never imagined once about opening a restaurant or owning my own small business. This changed when I first found a solid product. That was all it took for me to change my career path. I believe that the quality of the product or the service is the most important factor when starting a business. If the product is solid and competitive, the risk of failing drastically decreases. I believe I was very fortunate to be able to find the right products to serve to my customers. In my case, the product is the “Korean Culture” itself. Not only are we selling Korean food, but we are selling the entirety of Korean drinking culture. I do not think the product has to be something tangible. I believe experience can also be a solid product, especially with the emergence of social media and the amount of available information.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

To be honest, we relied very little on marketing. We never paid for any marketing or even posted much in our social media about our chicken or Pocha. Instead, most of our efforts relied on making sure that our product and services are always solid and consistent. Because of this, our customers helped us do the marketing for us. They would post how great the food and the experience was while visiting. More and more people were exposed to these posts and ended up coming into our restaurants with the same experience. The cycle kept on going and we eventually gained popularity without spending our resources on marketing and promotions. Again, I believe the most important factor in a successful business is the product.

Contact Info:

• Website: nooripocha.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noori.clawson/
• Twitter: https://www.facebook.com/noori.clawson
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/noori-chicken-pocha-clawson

Image Credits
Photography by Chuk Nowak