If you love the nostalgia the rain gives you, it might be the perfect place for you. No matter what the weather is like outside, you can always enjoy the rain in the cafe called ‘Rain Report’. The rain-themed cafe in Itaewon and Seongsu, Seoul, will open its branch in Dubai.
“It is ironic that a space created in a rainy country will be also presented in a desert country where it never rains,” Ryu Jeong-su (45), CEO of Glow Seoul, said in an interview with The Chosun Daily on Jan. 25. at Glow Seoul’s office in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
”We are aiming to become a representative company that exports ‘space’ enthusiastic about the Korean Generation MZ(millennials and Generation Zers in Korea) to overseas.”
Rain Report, with the concept of “365 rainy days,” as its name suggests, opened last year, in Seoul’s Itaewon and Seongsu.
In this cafe decorated with a pond garden and a stone bridge at the terrace, it perpetually rains once every 15 minutes. Gathering visitors in their 20s and 30s who want to take a photo with umbrellas in the background of rainfall, the cafe has become famous as a “hot photo spot,” The viral spread through Instagram and finally reached overseas.
Glow Seoul, the company which directed Rain Report, is a star in the F&B industry. Many cafes and restaurants under the guide of this space planning and construction startup went viral among young hipsters in Seoul.
Founded in 2018, Glow Seoul has garnered a fame with trendy places such as Cheongsudang, a garden-themed cafe with bamboo groves and small streams, and Asian cuisine Sala Daeng Bangkok, which created a mood of vacation in Bangkok with waterfall, and tropical trees in the backdrop of hanok(Korean traditional house). They are both located in Ikseon-dong, Seoul.
Based on these success, Glow Seoul has collaborated with conglomerates companies such as Lotte and Shinsegae to introduce major spaces such as “Glass Ville,” an outdoor space with more than 10 glass structures at Lotte Premium Outlets in Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do, and library and pet park at the shopping mall Starfield Suwon. According to Glow Seoul, the company’s cumulative investment is $14 million (19 billion won), and last year’s sales were around $29 million (40 billion won). In November of last year, the company began averting its eyes to overseas; Dubai and the United States.
”A foreign entity founded by a Dubai tycoon first contacted us and asked us to build the Rain Report in Dubai. They came to know us through Instagram, and visited Korea from Dubai to sightsee the cafe.”, Ryu said. Glow Seoul in Dubai is currently designing the cafe in Dubai and plans to localize it afterwards.
Ryu added, “We are also working for ‘Egg N Bird’, a chicken sandwich restaurant brand in the United States. We will make it a hotter space by harmonizing their menu with the interior.” Glow Seoul will take charge of design, meanwhile the construction will be done locally.
“It’s risky for us to do everything ourselves because we don’t know the local conditions. Therefore we will collaborate with partners who want to join us in foreign countries, or deliver our IP to them. Borrowing our franchise to local companies might be another option,” said Ryu.
After graduating from Yonsei University with a degree in space science, Ryu worked as a development engineer at a startup. Inspired by a friend who was a nutritionist and worked hard to open a restaurant in his neighborhood, he and his friend opened Glow Kitchen in Ikseon-dong, Seoul in 2015 as a side business. However, it closed within two years. Despite his initial failure, he consecutively opened three new restaurants based on Glow Kitchen’s menu, and all of them have been successful.
The secret to his success was a “solid concept”. Ryu said he learned the importance of concept through his business failures, and now he knows how to create a “space with concept” that works not only in Korea but around the world. “In 2015, Glow Kitchen served 100 dishes, but it did not go well. We looked for what the problem was, and found out that the dishes were confusing. Therefore, we categorized them into three categories and reopened three different restaurants-Japanese, Italian, and Southeast Asian restaurants-and all three did well this time.”
He said, “No matter where, a popular cafe or restaurant all have a strong concept,” yet warning “Just following trends never works.”
He said “If you plant papaya trees and create a sand beach in a small cafe with 712 square feet and consider it as a vacation spot, it’s not really a good concept. It’s just a miniature of what you want.”
“What you need to do is to represent your concept in a spacious space where it can embrace the concept. Glow Seoul’s restaurant Oncheonjip gained popularity because we established a full-sized outdoor hot spring outside the restaurant,” he advised.
How can these spaces be realized in Korea? Ryu pointed out that an over-competitive, saturated Korean F&B market was the key. He said “Restaurants have no choice but to continue to introduce various unique spaces in order to be chosen by consumers.” According to Statistics Korea, 19.9% of South Koreans were self-employed last year. This compares to the United States (6.6%), Japan (9.8%), and Germany (8.4%). “Korean consumers are more sensitive to ‘Instagramable shots,’ so creating a photogenic space is very important for the self-employed,” said Ryu.
Glow Seoul plans to focus more on overseas markets this year, leaving the domestic market where competition is fierce. The company aims to open 10 Glow Seoul-designed spaces overseas this year. The company’s long-term goal is to have more than half of its clients come from overseas next year.
Glow Seoul plans to focus more on overseas markets this year, passing over the domestic market where competition is fierce. The company aims to open 10 Glow Seoul-designed spaces overseas this year. The company’s long-term goal is to have more than half of its clients come from overseas next year.” Many spaces that are doing well in Korea are actually more optimized overseas,” says Ryu. He exemplified ‘London Bagel Museum’, a bagel cafe chain in Seoul as a candidate to introduce overseas. It has gained popularity not only for its wide variety of flavored bagels but also for its vintage interior, reminiscent of a small London in Seoul.
Ryu emphasized that if you want to export a Korean F&B space overseas, you don’t need to stick to ‘Korean identity’. “The hottest food in the U.S. is Chinese food. Chinese restaurants in the U.S. usually set the scene of regions in China, not Americanized.”
He added “A restaurant is essentially a collection of cultures from around the world, and when you eat there, you should feel like you’re abroad. Many Korean companies should create various spaces in Korea utilizing the atmosphere of globally beloved foreign places such as London, and export them overseas to expand their business in the future.”
