Fried chicken chain bhc opens first US store in LA

South Korea’s No. 2 fried chicken brand bhc Group on Monday said it opened its first store in North America on Friday at the Original Farmers Market Store on South Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, California.

The non-franchised store is directly operated by the company and serves as the franchise's outpost for full-fledged entry into the US market.

bhc will use the store as a test bed to gauge US consumer tastes for use in aggressively expanding in the American market.

"Based on our strong domestic position as shown by our stable management, we will from this year become a global restaurant company that promotes K-food," the company said. "To this end, we decided on the US market as the first overseas region for entry this year."

Opened in 1934, the Original Farmers Market is a traditional market popular with tourists in Los Angeles as well as a commercial district with a large floating population frequented by Southern California residents.

"The plan is to actively expand overseas on the occasion of the official opening of our first store in North America," bhc said. "First, we will open our first store in Singapore in the first half of this year and actively explore Southeast Asia, where we have a branch in Malaysia."

"Through the successful soft landing of our Original Farmers Market store, bhc Group will actively assess the potential of its range of food brands on the US market,” the company added.

Write to Kyeong-je Han at hankyung@hankyung.com