Less than 3 staff, short cooking time, no royalty, no training free but generous portion and good price proved 2 million won a day

▲ The Plus / CEO Jaemin Ahn

Smart phone seems to have changed everything. One can hardly say what a smart phone cannot do rather than what it can do. You leave everything at your home when leaving but your own smart phone! 

When increasing number of singlers met the convenience of smart phone food delivery apps, for example, things have never been the same in the way people have a meal in South Korea. Naturally, food makers are struggling to attract more mobile orders with differentiated menus and ideas. And The Plus that made a sensation with ‘Meat Full of King Mixed Rice’ is a good example for many mobile-based food businesses to benchmark. 

Mixed rice (bibimbab) is one of the most frequently enjoyed Korean foods. Maybe because it is too common, people often regard it as soso-nothing new-about-it food. So, Jaemin Ahn, CEO of The Plus, gave a differentiation with different ingredients with a greater focus on meat taste and its generous potion.

If a normal single potion meat dish costs you around 13,000 won ($11.24), the Meat Full of King Mixed Rice offers you that much meat topped on mixed rice at around 8,000 won not to mention the taste of course. Wowed by dinners on/off line alike, the Meat Full of King Mixed Rice has seen surprising 120 delivery stores within 2 years of launching. Today, it is one of the most frequently appearing Korean foods on YouTube food channels 

Ahn opened a small 23 square meter store at a corner of the Songhyeon Jugong Market in Daegu Metropolitan City with less than 5 million won ($4,325) budget. Soon after opening, he and his two staff made daily 2 million won sales and Ahn proved his vision as plausible. Small sized store, minimum staff but heavenly taste at good price captivated the hearts of dinners as well as business seekers with limited capital. 

With less than 3 staff, short cooking time, the sauce and meat from the head office, no royalty and no training free, a store owner can create stable 30% margin with around 2 million won daily sales, says CEO Ahn. In addition, Ahn’s wife is running a business supplying monthly 50 tons of fresh meat nationwide which makes Ahn’s business easier system-wise. 

Taking the momentum, Ahn is planning to increase the number of stores to 200 this year after which he will seek an opportunity overseas.