Summary
Cupbop is one of the many success stories to come out ofShark Tank, and the company has the net worth to match. In season 13, episode 21, entrepreneurs Jung Song and Dok Kwon arrived on the show to pitch their company “Cupbop” tothe sharks ofShark Tank. The business is a Korean BBQ chain that sells large cups of noodles, dumplings, and various meats. Song began the business in Salt Lake City, Utah out of a food truck, and Kwon was his first customer. He loved it so much,he joined the company as an investor years later.
The company went from one food truck to having multiple storefronts and in the year they appeared onShark Tank, they had $18.7 million in sales.Song and Kwon came to the sharks seeking $1 million for 3%, a huge ask, but commensurate with their sales history. They grew rapidly, and quickly, a bidding war broke out between the sharks. Every single shark made an offer, and they negotiated each other down to a $1 million for 5% deal with Mark Cuban. It ended up being a great decision for Cuban, as Cupbop has gone on to major success.
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Cupbop’s Net Worth Is Over $100 Million
Song And Kwon Have Stores In Seven US States And In Indonesia
Cupbop has gone on to become one ofShark Tank’s biggest success stories. Since their appearance on the show, Cupbop has opened 48 stores in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma (viaCupbop). They have storefronts in NBA, football, and soccer stadiums, and they still have food trucks. Cupbop has also opened 160 stores in Indonesia. According to a Cupbop video onYouTube, Cupbop had $40 million in sales,a huge jump from the previous year of around $30 million.
In total,Cupbop has easily cleared over $100 million in sales, though exact numbers are not public. Some sites likeLooperandCaClubIndiaput the net worth even higher, between $150 million and $180 million. From the look of their site and their restaurant, Cupbop has retained the fun-first energy that Song and Kwon came ontoShark Tankwith, complete with their signature slogan, “Shhh… Just Eat!”
What’s Next For Cupbop
Kwon And Song Are Excited For Korean Food To Come Into The Mainstream
In an interview withQSR Magazine, Song and Kwon spoke about their plans for the future of Cupbop. The founders' plans always involved taking their time in growth. Theymade sure that everything was going well with their brick-and-mortar stores before entering the franchising model stage. In 2022, they finally announced they would be opening up franchise opportunities. Kwon has plans for exactly where he would like to go,
“We’re focused on growing in the middle of the country and in the South. Then, we’ll start expanding out from there.”
They’ve also made changes along the way to how they prepare their food, all in the service of making things easier for franchisees,
“Now, all of our protein comes pre-marinated, so all you have to do is put it in a pot and cook it. That change happened as we started to really get ready for franchising.”
Kwon is sure that with the success of Cupbop, they will soon be running into competition in the space. However, as the pair said in theirShark Tankepisode, they’re are more interested in bringing Korean cuisine to the rest of the world than they are in squeezing every last dollar out of the company. Kwon said,
“There is an outsized secular growth happening for Asian concepts. Stacked on top of that, everything Korean is cool right now. From K-pop, to K-dramas, to “Squid Game” on Netflix, people are very interested in Korean culture, and with that, demand for Korean cuisine is growing. I think as we branch out into more states, we’re going to feel that even more.”
Kwon and Song were successful in their appearance onShark Tankbecause of their sales numbers and because of their authentic and honest personalities. They both believed in their product, showed their know-how, and proved they would be great and fun business partners. So far, they’ve proven to Mark Cuban that their presentation was the truth, and now everyone is benefitting.
Shark Tank
Cast
Several successful investors and financial moguls sit in on pitches from professional and amateur American entrepreneurs in Shark Tank. This reality television series sees a group of five “sharks” who give hopeful people with a dream a chance to secure funding and support from some of the most well-known figures in the business world. Products and services come from all over as the sharks judge and try to determine if the pitches are investable.
