No-sugar, no-artificial flavor, no-MSG is the new standard of Korean snack franchise: Bunsik Mama

▲ Bunsik Mama / CEO Lee Yu-jin

(PowerKorea) Bunsik is Korean snack. You can easily find food carts on the street that sell kimbab (dried laver rice and vegetable roll), tteokboki (stir-fried rice cake), tikkim (deep frying) and sundae (sausage). Bunsik is relatively cheaper than main meals but some shrewd businessmen are introducing premium snack franchise with raised quality and the look to lure snack lovers. 

Open in Busan last April, Bunsik Mama threw down the gauntlet with its no-sugar, no-artificial flavor and no-MSG principle. Kimbab, the most common Korean snack, at Bunsik Mama has no yellow pickled radish: it is replaced by beansprout soaked with beetroot and maqui berry backed up by the unhulled barley-butter bean-anchovy fish sauce-driven handmade salt. 

Mama kimbab, the flagship menu of Bunsik Mama, for example, is consisted of dried laver, perilla leaf, radish sprouts, fishcake, carrot, ham, crab meat, egg and beansprouts. Other low carbohydrate kimbab for you to better try is recently introduced kito kimbab made with egg instead of rice. It is especially good for those who are on a diet. 

Lee Yu-jin, CEO of Bunsik Mama, ran a cart bar on the street 12 years ago in order to carry on her passion in opera without worrying of getting by. She used to enjoy kimbab during the opera and gathering her experience of cart bar eventually opened Bunsik Mama. To make a strong presence in the competitive Korean food franchise market, she gave more focus on quality than quantity, ingredient than margin and above all healthiness than strong flavor.  

Recognizing these advantages of Bunsik Mama, around 60 large marts and department stores are offering a deal to run a store in their food court. Lee says that the new and healthy menu, easy to prepare and efficient management system will play advantage for both dinners and partners. 

“It is my goal to make Bunsik Mama where a diner visits one hundred times instead of one hundred diners visit only once” says Lee.

To join the business, you do not need to pay membership fee but the training fee and the monthly royalty agreed. 

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