SG Dinehill CEO is a man with initiative
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Park Young-sik, vice president of SG Dinehill / Courtesy of SG Dinehill
By Yun Suh-young
Park Young-sik opened his 23rd restaurant on Oct. 5 in the heart of Seoul, in a building where he already has two restaurants. Park, vice president and acting CEO of SG Dinehill, which has 22 stores and seven brands, launched his first Chinese restaurant brand, "Mazing.A," inside the Seoul Finance Center in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. The building already houses two of his other brands -- "Butcher's Cut" and "Two Plus."
"Mazing.A" is the eighth brand to join the list of restaurant brands owned by SG Dinehill, a company specializing in restaurants. Its other brands include Two Plus, Blooming Garden, Cotto and its derivative brands, Butcher's Cut and Patty Patty. All the brands are focused in the Seoul and Gyeonggi region but Park plans to expand nationwide.
"To grow as a comprehensive dining company, it was necessary to open a Chinese restaurant for the diversity of the brands,” Park told The Korea Times following the launch of the brand. “We prepared for three years to open it.
"It took that long because I wanted to find the right place to launch it, and also wanted to foster our own chefs instead of bringing in someone from China."
The original plan of purchasing the license for Nan Xiang, a Chinese dim sum brand, went down the drain. It had been due to open in 2013.
"It seemed unnecessary to bring in the brand, paying royalty fees just to serve dim sum. We concluded that it'd be better to create our own brand instead," he said, explaining how "Mazing.A" was thought out.
The name "Mazing.A" is a simple twist of the word "amazing" but the idea initially came from Japanese animation figure "Mazinger Z," where the word "mazinger" is pronounced "mazinga" in Korean.
"Any Korean knows the animation character and I wanted the restaurant to be just as popular,” Park said. “I usually come up with the restaurant names and they're pretty simple. I choose what sounds good or is unique and then create the meaning afterwards."
Park, 35, is full of ideas that he tosses around randomly.
"I throw out ideas hoping that one of them will get caught in the net," he said.
Park, who is the son of the founder and owner of Samwon Garden, a noted local steak house with a 40-year history, built a separate dining company, SG Dinehill, at the age of 28. Although he started with a silver spoon in his mouth, Park's venture has not been as easy as people imagine. His first brand, "Pure," a Japanese restaurant scrapped due to poor sales, was a painful lesson. But Park quickly learned from his failure and managed to succeed in his following brands. SG Dinehill's restaurants are different in concept and style from his father's steak house chain.
"When opening a restaurant, I focus on acquiring mass appeal,” Park said. “On top of that, we add our own color. Instead of trying to succeed with something entirely new, I try to find a niche in the 'red ocean.' Standing out from the crowd is the strategy I take."
When asked what he thought was the success factor of his latest brand, "Two Plus,” he again pointed to the fact it is different from the crowd.
"Meat is in big demand here,” he said. “But because it is, the industry is a red ocean. So we decided to focus on fewer dishes and bring down the price. Plus, we added our competitiveness to the mix."
The adventurous young CEO's ambitions are not confined to Korea. He plans to expand to the U.S. and China, adding to the first Samwon Garden's global chain that opened in Jakarta in 2013.
He plans to open a steak house in the U.S., in the middle of Manhattan.
When asked why he risked competing with rivals in a country that is home to steaks, Park said, "They're not always good at everything."
"I want to introduce Korean food to the U.S., but in the end, I want to compete with them with Western food, too,” Park said. “There's no reason to stick to Korean dishes if we want to expand our business overseas. It's just another market."
The "Two Plus" has become famous among Korean-Americans in New York, so he plans to open an antenna shop in Seoul's Samseong-dong as a test bed for overseas expansion. The menu will be diversified -- Korean barbecue will still be the main dish but with a variety of other Korean dishes to go with it. The overseas branch is to be named "Two Plus Godam."
Meanwhile, a few restaurants are waiting to be opened in the local market. Just next month, Park will open a beef house in Yangjae-dong, in southern Seoul, called "Ross-ok." The restaurant will serve sliced roasted beef in a format more casual than "Two Plus." Then "Boutique Blooming" is waiting to be reopened above the "Cotto" restaurant in Apgujeong-dong, Seoul. Finally, "Smoke Ring," another barbecue brand, will be launched next spring.
"There's one more item on my mind,” Park said. “I'm thinking of an American tavern-style restaurant which is a more accessible version of 'Butcher's Cut,' with a casual atmosphere and cheaper prices."
SG Dinehill hit 70 billion won ($62 million) in sales as of this year but by the time he launches a restaurant in the U.S, Park expects it to reach 100 billion won ($88 million).
The modest Park, however, shook his head when asked his secret to success.
"I don't think I've succeeded,” he said. “So I don't know. But I guess the restaurants turned out well because we stuck to the basics. Also, we add our own color.
"For me, the standard of success is for every restaurant to be well off on their own. If there's just one that's seeing a loss, that's not success."