Dive Brief:
- Gen Restaurant Group, parent company of Gen Korean BBQ, has filed an initial public offering with a plan to raise $25 million in proceeds from the issuance of Class A common stock, according to SEC filings submitted last week.
- Gen Korean BBQ has 32 company-owned restaurants across California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Texas and New York, according to GRG’s registration statement.
- GRG is the second restaurant company to file an IPO this year following Cava, which issued its filing earlier this month.
Dive Insight:
GRG will become one of a handful of public Asian restaurant companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Last year, Yoshiharu, a California-based Japanese restaurant, went public at $4 per share. Kura Sushi went public in 2019 and raised $41 million on its first day of trading. Kura Sushi also reported same-store sales growth of 17.4% during Q2 2023. Much like Kura Sushi, which rolled out robotic servers nationwide last year, Gen Korean BBQ has a slim labor model. Gen Korean BBQ is a “cook your own” concept where guests cook meat at their tables, allowing for the concept to operate with limited staff.
“Since our guests serve as their own chefs and cook the majority of their meals themselves on a grill embedded in the center of each table, they experience minimal wait times once seated, have full control over their portions and are able to grill their food at their desired pace and temperatures,” the company said in its filing.
Gen Korean BBQ charges a fixed price ranging from $17.95 to $20.99 for lunch and $25.95 to $29.95 for dinner and allows guests to order unlimited quantities of food, making it “accessible to multiple demographics.” The company said it increased prices modestly in the second half of 2021 and 2022, but didn’t see any significant change in consumer behavior. Gen Korean BBQ plans to analyze and monitor the impact on price on customers, and said there may be opportunities for additional modest price increases in the future with minimal impact on diner traffic.
The company has ambitious growth plans. Gen Korean BBQ’s development stalled in 2020 to 2021, but restarted in 2022 once COVID-19 restrictions eased. It has since opened three restaurants and signed leases for nine additional locations. This year, the company plans to open six or seven locations. Its plan is to open eight to 10 restaurants annually in new and existing markets and enter new markets like Oregon, Georgia, Virginia, Utah and Washington, D.C. The company believes it has the potential to reach over 250 locations in the U.S.
Gen Korean BBQ’s revenue increased to $163.7 million last year, up 16% from $140.6 million in 2021. Its average unit volume is $6 million and its restaurant-level adjusted EBITDA margin was 20% during the 12 months ending March 31, 2023, the company said in the filing.
