Hotel & Restaurant / Wishing To Be the Stepping Stone of Korean Cuisine Culture With Dedication

Publication : Hotel & Restaurant

Date : September, 2017

Title : Wishing To Be the Stepping Stone of Korean Cuisine Culture With Dedication, CEO Lucia Cho of the GAON Society

The Gaon Society, which earned four Michelin Stars in total with the publication of the Michelin Guide Seoul last year, is planning to pave the way for another leap forward. Along with Bicena’s relocation to the 81stfloor of Signiel Seoul, there were some changes in GAON too. Now they have cozy bar type tables in addition to the dining space. The company will focus on ensuring internal stability as it is planning to find a larger market abroad. It plans to put more effort on hiring more staffs and educating them. The objective here is to let the whole staffs ranging from chefs to servers appreciate the value of each other’s and emphasize their identity as members of GAON Society rather than expanding the business itself. I’m excited to figure out what the future holds for the GAON Society, which has been pursuing the value of high-end Korean food culture ever since GAON’s grand opening in 2003.

“Bicena reopens in collaoration with Signiel Seoul”

“GAON suggests a new type of dining area in hall&bar form“

Please tell us about the concepts of the GAON Society’s restaurants, GAON and Bicena.

I’d say Bicena and GAON is the beginning and the end of a black hole. Bicena is comprised of young members. It is just like the entrance of the black hole, allowing staff members to immerse themselves deeply into cooking. It is where you take on challenges, enjoy exploration and express yourself without sticking to a single element of cooking. Meanwhile, as the end of the black hole, GAON strives to find the core value of Korean cuisine. It is where you constantly ask yourself about the best you can do. I guess this is true for any restaurant with a Michelin Star. It is a place of a fierce competition where individuals treat themselves strictly for a better tomorrow. Sometimes it seems holy too. The biggest difference between the two restaurants is their perspectives on cooking. Simply put, if Bicena shows us how change progresses, GAON goes beyond tasting and offer us with different experiences and impressions.

What do you think is the most important aspect of restaurant management?

It's the chef’s technique and teamwork. Both GAON and Bicena conducts a 1:1 performance evaluation for all staffs and provide personal coaching program. Through this, we can evaluate the influence of an individual chef on us and learn how he or she educates the team members. In order for a team to be better, the leader should have positive influence on the development of members. In that sense, our kitchen staffs have a very good teamwork. I have been working with GAON's Head Chef Byoung-Jin Kim for eight years. Sometimes our ideas clash, but we eventually understand each other's intentions because we know that the growth of GAON was the central to our conversation. Such a strong unity in the team seems to have been the driving force of GAON and Bicena.

I wonder why you focus so much on staff education.

The quality of service is one of the most important determining factors of attracting customers. The quality of service depends on the team's ability. Therefore, we provide an opportunity to develop self-esteem and intimacy between people, teams and directors through education. If you are only confident about earning Michelin Stars and stop there, you are likely to fall into the pitfalls of arrogance and self-contradiction. Thus, it is important to constantly ask yourself questions like ‘‘Am I really doing well?’

Why did Bicena move from Hannam-dong to Signiel Seoul?

Initially, the offer was for GAON, not Bicena. Once, Chef Corey Lee (Lee Dong-min) who is a client and also a friend of mine and the GAON team prepared a VIP dinner together. Staffs from Lotte attended this occasion and was satisfied with the Korean dishes we prepared. Upon this opportunity, there were several offers ahead of the grand opening of Signiel Seoul. But we had to decline the offers because of bad timing. Then we got another offer last August which coincided with the end of our lease contract at the Hannam-dong store. That’s how Bicena moved in to Signiel Seoul. I also thought Bicena needed some change in the mood with new challenges and missions. Then we were offered with a new challenge just in time. Hotel dining was something totally new and we also had to do researches on recipes using induction, not fire ranges since it is located in the ultra-high-rise building.

I am curious about your management philosophy as the person who brought GAON and Bicena to the level of signature Korean fine dining.

Running a restaurant is like playing in a drama. You must be sure and confident about the message you want to deliver to receive a round of applause. Restaurants aren't personal workshops. If guests can’t understand the identity or inspiration of the restaurant, it's going to be nothing more than a hobby. Therefore, I feel responsible as the director who leads the stage called restaurant. That is why study hard. In particular, we opened GAON when no one was really paying attention to the potential of Korean cuisine. We are the pioneers of this field, so we want to continue to live by our mission. And people, are our driving force. I believe all things are possible upon the relationship built on trust.

GAON did play an important role in globalization of Korean food. But didn't it also face many difficulties including financial problems?

I don't think that was a failure. If I didn’t dare to try, there would be no failure too. I rather think that I was able to accumulate know-how and experiences because I took up the challenge. The opening of GAON brought changes to the Korean cuisine dining market. It inspired many people to believe that it is worth investing in Korean food. And as those people opened new businesses with similar inspiration to ours, GAON eventually helped the development of Korean cuisine. I became a part of the Gaon Society in 2012 and went through a lot of circumstances, both happy and despairing. I had a hard time when GAON had no customers for a year and a half after its opening, agonized about role of the owner in business relations, and learned that the company can leap forward when it has a clear and solid identity. I think we have to start everything thinking about looking forward to the goal itself, not about just getting job done. What we see in the process can’t explain everything.

GAON_ A bowl of hot pot rice with dried radish greens served with side dishes

Bicena_Handmade dumplings

Bicena_Beans

Combination of dining hall and bar at GAON after its renovation. You can enjoy a variety of alcoholic beverages paired with delicious food in a cozy and comfortable space.

It seems like there are various interpretations of Korean cuisine recently, including modern Korean food. Are you positive about this trend?

Of course I’m positive about that. But people should go beyond just copying someone. There should be more Korean cuisine that is genuinely Korean. Chef’s identity plays an important role in achieving this. The restaurant gets more inspirations and eventually develops into a better one when the staffs have more chances to share their vision and work together as a team. After all, cooking is not about competing with others, but against yourself. You can copy the technique when you imitate others, but not the sensibility of that certain person because a mere guessing and conviction from own experience are totally different.

You have plans to launch franchise stores. Is franchising fine dining possible?

The system or structure unique to fine dining makes it is difficult to create stores that are identical with GAON and Bicena. We need a solid foundation to expand the branch. Thus, I guess we need a more thorough analysis on the strengths of GAON and Bicena. Many franchises in Korea deals with Korean food, but what they have still leave much to be desired. It is important to create a long-lasting franchise which can remain durable under many changes and challenges. It has to consider the identity of Korean food that the brand wants to show, and also reflect the changing lifestyle of Koreans. In the US, you can find sushi corners even at small supermarkets. But why not Korean food? I was always curious about this. We will try our best to let people know about the potential of Korean food.

"I want this company to create a Korean food culture that people around the world want to experience."

Please tell us about the vision of the Gaon Society.

We plan to make inroads into foreign market around 2019 ~ 2020. So until next year, we will reorganize the system of the Gaon Society, consolidate internal solidarity and expand our headquarters to focus on specialization and systematization. After making it into the foreign market, we will use GAON as the model to focus on drawing local sensibilities unique to that country. Whether we will be successful or not depends on our ability to find out what local people like and design menu based on those points. There are subtle differences in sensibility even among similar cultures. Understanding this subtlety would be the most important task. Furthermore, I want to make the Gaon Society a company that creates a Korean food culture that people around the world want to experience.

Gaon Society

2003 Opened Korean cuisine restaurant GAON

2005 Opened the second branch of GAON at Beijing, China

2012 Opened Bicena at Hannam-dong

2014 Reopened GAON at Sinsa-dong

2016 Acquired Michelin 3-star (GAON), 1-star (Bicena) <Michelin Guide Seoul 2017>

2017 Relocation of Bicena, Signiel Seoul, 81st floor