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| Gen Korean BBQ | |
| Type | Public |
| Nasdaq: GENK | |
| Industry | Food and drink |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | Cerritos, California [1] |
Number of locations | 36 (4 upcoming) (2024) |
Area served | |
Key people |
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| Website | https://www.genkoreanbbq.com/ |
Gen Korean BBQ is an American chain of all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurants mainly concentrated around the Western U.S. [2] It opened in 2011, and has since grown to 36 locations as of 2024. [3]
The restaurant was founded in Los Angeles in 2011, by David Kim and Jae Chang, a pair of Korean immigrants. [3] Kim had previously been the CEO of Baja Fresh and La Salsa. [4] The first restaurant was in Tustin. It gradually expanded through Southern California until 2015, when a location in San Jose in Northern California opened. [5] It also opened its first eatery outside of California in 2015, in Henderson, Nevada. [6] [7] Its first Hawaiian location was opened in the Ala Moana Center in 2016, [8] while the first in Texas opened in Carrollton that same year. [9] [10] [11] [12] In 2016, Gen launched Gen Delivers, a food delivery service that sells ingredients for Korean barbecue online. [13]
In 2017, the company opened a restaurant in Montclair that utilized robots to serve food. [14] [15] A restaurant in the Philippines, in the SM Mall of Asia, opened in 2017, becoming the company's first international location. [16] The first location in Arizona was in Phoenix, which also opened in 2017 in Tempe Marketplace. [17] During the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of closing their restaurants, the company converted them into discount meat markets to stay in business. [18] The chain won Silver in "Best Yakiniku/Korean BBQ" in the 2021 Hale Aina Awards. [19] The first location in the Eastern United States was opened in 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. [20]
A location in New York City opened in January 2023, at the intersection between 14th St and 3rd Ave. [21] Gen went public on the Nasdaq on June 26, 2023, as GENK, raising $43.2 million in its IPO. [22]
Gen's menu usually has 28-36 items, [lower-alpha 1] which include daikon radish paper, sundubu-jjigae , saengchae , japchae , kimchi , potato salad, bulgogi , American Angus and Wagyu beef, gopchang , galbi , shrimp, octopus, yangnyeom chicken, samgyeopsal , and jokbal . [3] [5] [24] [25]
As of 2024, Gen has 36 restaurants, with four upcoming locations. Most restaurants are in California, in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Although the locations are concentrated around the West, one eatery exists in Florida and New York. Hawaii has three, with one opening in Maui. Other soon-to-be-opened restaurants are in Jacksonville, Florida, Tukwila, Washington, and Dallas, Texas. [3] There is also a restaurant in the Philippines, in the SM Mall of Asia. [16] In Southern California, the restaurant is popular with students from UC Irvine. [5] It plans to open locations in Oregon, Georgia, Virginia, Utah and also in the District of Columbia in the future. [1]
The cuisine of California reflects the diverse culture of California and is influenced largely by Hispanic American roots, alongside East Asian and Oceanian influences, and Western European influences, as well as the food trends and traditions of larger American cuisine.
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Bulgogi, literally "fire meat") is a gui made of thin, marinated slices of meat, most commonly beef, grilled on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle. It is also often stir-fried in a pan in home cooking. Sirloin and rib eye are frequently used cuts of beef for the dish. The dish originated from northern areas of the Korean Peninsula, but is a very popular dish in South Korea, where it can be found anywhere from upscale restaurants to local supermarkets as pan-ready kits.
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Korean tacos are a Korean-Mexican fusion dish popular in a number of urban areas in the United States and Canada. Korean tacos originated in Los Angeles, often as street food, consisting of Korean-style fillings, such as bulgogi and kimchi, placed on top of small traditional Mexican corn tortillas. Korean burritos are a similarly themed dish, using larger flour tortillas as a wrap.
Oklahoma Joe's is a barbecue restaurant owned and operated by Joe Davidson, with all locations in and around Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Omaha, Nebraska.
Korean–Mexican fusion is a type of fusion cuisine originally from Los Angeles that combines traditional elements of American-style Mexican and Korean foods. The earliest Korean-Mexican fusion featured Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes such as tacos or burritos filled with Korean-style barbecued meats and kimchi. Typical dishes include Korean tacos and bulgogi burritos. Food critics Jane and Michael Stern state that Korean–Mexican fusion is a growing food trend that has steadily gained in popularity since 2009.
Dickey's Barbecue Pit is an American family-owned barbecue restaurant chain based in Dallas, Texas, and is a subsidiary of Dickey's Capital Group.
COTE Korean Steakhouse is owned and operated by Simon Kim, a Korean-American restaurateur. The first location was opened in the Flatiron District of New York City in 2017 and has been awarded one Michelin star and several accolades from the James Beard Foundation. COTE is the only Michelin-starred Korean barbecue restaurant in the world. COTE's second location opened in Miami Design District in February, 2021.
SomiSomi Soft Serve & Taiyaki is an American chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores based in Los Angeles, California. They primarily serve Korean Bungeo-ppang paired with soft serve, known together as ah-boong.
Cupbop is an American fast casual restaurant chain located in the United States and Indonesia. They serve street-food style Korean barbecue, otherwise known as cup-bap.
Matt's BBQ is a barbecue restaurant in Portland, Oregon's Boise neighborhood. Sibling restaurant Matt's BBQ Tacos, also located in Portland, opened in 2019.
Kim Jong Grillin' is a Korean restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The business operates from southeast Portland's Richmond neighborhood, as of 2022, and plans to expand with a stall in the food hall at Block 216.
Southside Market & Barbeque is a historic barbecue restaurant and meat market in Elgin, Texas. It has since expanded into a chain restaurant.
Lil Red Takeout and Catering, is a Jamaican restaurant in Seattle's Columbia City / Rainier Valley area, in the U.S. state of Washington.
