Korean cuisine is surging in popularity, with no fewer than four new restaurants added to the city’s mix since 2022. The latest is Bonchon, a fast-casual fried chicken franchise that opened in January in Woodland Plaza.
Owner Gaby Coleman says their supply chain couldn’t keep up with the early demand. “I knew it was a slam dunk city. I knew it would do well,” says the former financial services professional from the New York City area.
An online connection drew her to Ann Arborite Chris Coleman, a personal trainer and former Pioneer High girls soccer coach. Gaby moved here in 2015 but kept commuting to her job in Manhattan with aspirations of making partner at her firm.
Since then the couple have had two children, and she’s launched four European Wax Center locations, selling one. When a private equity firm offered to buy out her salons, “I thought to myself, well, do I have something bigger on my hands than I realized?” she recalls. “Could I actually just do this and then not fly out to New York, and spend more time with my kids?”
A frequent Bonchon customer from her Manhattan days, she purchased local franchise rights to open what’s now the state’s third location. The chain, which translates its name as “my hometown,” originated in South Korea in 2002 and has grown to over 450 restaurants in ten countries.
Related: A Tale of Two Chicken Chains
The new store has six tables but is primarily takeout and delivery. The hand-battered, double-fried chicken comes as bone-in or boneless wings, drumsticks, and strips. Soy garlic is the most popular of the four sauces. Other dishes include potstickers, bulgogi fries, bao buns, fried rice, bibimbap, udon noodle soup, tteokbokki, and more. For dessert are the churro-like Korean donuts, coated with cinnamon and sugar, with a sweet cream dip.
Coleman says that, just as customers found Bonchon even with no prelaunch marketing, building a team of some twenty-two employees was smoother than expected. “I was shocked to find how easy it was to staff,” she reports. “Corporate told me, ‘Oh, you’ll probably lose twenty percent after week one.’ We lost nobody.”
Bonchon, 2272 S. Main (Woodland Plaza). (734) 794–5200. Sun.–Thurs. 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m. bonchon.com
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