Another Washington, D.C., fast casual brand is looking to go national — this time in the Asian category. SeoulSpice, which has seven units in the D.C. area, opened its first location in Chicago in March after securing investment backing from Invus Group. Eric Shin, the founder and CEO of the chain, said it has more stores planned.
Now, Shin says, the chain has an ambitious target: “We're poised to become the category defining Asian fast casual in America.”
With SeoulSpice’s home market under pressure as a result of federal job cuts, it’s a good time for brands in Washington, D.C. to find paths out of it. And Chicago expansion has been a success story for at least one other D.C.-based fast casual chain. Cava’s debut in that region in early 2024 was its strongest market entry to that date, and has pushed the chain to focus more on Midwestern development.
A natural time to look for new markets
SeoulSpice has experimented with different formats and markets over time and found success across location types, Shin said.
“We have proven ourselves in a variety of different situations,” Shin said. “We have urban core locations with dense lunch traffic. We have neighborhood locations like Tenleytown, but also we have university locations like College Park.”
Opening restaurants in those areas, and persisting through COVID-19, has proven SeoulSpice’s durability as a concept, Shin said. He believes the brand has the experience and the relevance to succeed in new markets.
In Shin’s estimate, SeoulSpice’s key advantage is its ability to serve culturally authentic food in a format that appeals to consumers.
“These are recipes from my grandfather, my grandmother, that were passed to my mother,” said Shin. “She taught me about Korean culture through food, and that love for sharing our Korean culture is really what inspired SeoulSpice as a brand.”
While other fast casual markets have clear leaders — Cava for Mediterranean, Chipotle in the Mexican segment, Mod Pizza in fast casual pizza — Asian fast casual is still a very open field. That could change as the sector grows. Chicago-based Circana reported a 10% surge in U.S. Korean restaurants last year, including full-serve QSRs, SeoulSpice noted in a press release regarding its Chicago opening.
Shin, who also works as the principal percussionist for the National Symphony Orchestra, became familiar with Chicago’s market conditions from his time as an extra percussionist at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and said he saw a gap in the city’s culinary scene.
“For such an incredibly vibrant city and diverse city, there wasn't a lot of Korean food,” Shin said. “It just seemed like the natural place to go.”
Shin said the brand has three units in various stages of development in Chicago, and he has plans for more.
“It’s a city of neighborhoods, it’s very dense, and there’s a lot of opportunity,” Shin said. “Outside of that city, there's so many suburbs as well.”
There’s room to grow responsibly
While Shin wants SeoulSpice to become synonymous with Korean fast casual fare, he said this goal is tempered with sustainable growth plans.
“We want to build as many as we can in a responsible way,” Shin said. “You earn the right to grow.”
Shin said the chain doesn’t have specific market types or geographies in mind.
“We want to share Korean food with as many people as we can so we don't think of this as a very narrow scope or a highly targeted thing,” he said.
Like Chipotle and Cava, the chain’s stores are company-owned, and Shin said he has no plans to franchise. While this may make expansion more difficult — well-capitalized franchisees can speed up growth — it also ensures SeoulSpice maintains a consistent, centralized strategy.
Shin said Invus Group, which was an early major backer of Cava, backs this slow, organic growth strategy.
“They were just totally aligned with our vision for SeoulSpice and the idea of long-term growth with others that are passionate about building great businesses,” Shin said.
