Seoul food Doug Williamson discusses his new venture: Stickbug – “Seoul in a bowl”!
OK Doug, what precisely is Stickbug? It’s a very interesting name. A ‘Stickbug’ is an affectionate name that describes those with a fondness for eating food with Chopsticks. Our distinct logo visually enforces our culinary style, while our trading statement, ‘Seoul in a Bowl’ connects strongly with our audience. People are intrigued by the name, which was the goal. It’s a conversation starter, and once we explain the rationale for the name Stickbug, people quickly warm to it. The name gives us great bandwidth to expand our offer and is easy to remember. These are the building blocks to a great brand, in my opinion. We felt the name and strapline best defined our target audience and the authenticity of our offer: Korean street market food… in a bowl.
So why Korean? it’s a big shift from coffee! The coffee business has been extremely good to me, but coffee is oversubscribed, especially in the UK where one can get an amazing cup of coffee virtually anywhere. What was once a simple business has become overly complex
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because one cannot survive on selling coffee, desserts, and pastries alone. Many coffee shops are having to adopt and expand their food offer, which complicates the model and takes the fun out of the business, in my opinion. I’ve been a huge fan of Korean food
since the mid 1980s, when my father introduced me to Korean BBQ and kimchi. The problem, however, is that most, if not all Korean establishments are full-service restaurants. With Stickbug, we set out to solve that problem by creating a delicious, diverse, and simple offer that can be prepared without the need for chefs, fryers, griddles, stoves, and expensive extraction and fire suppression systems. nyone with experience in franchising understands the importance simplicity plays in the scalability and successful expansion of a concept, and this is particularly true today, where costs are rising and recruiting quality staff members is difficult. Our margins are incredible and the business is simple to operate too. It’s okay to have fun in business, and that’s our mission for Stickbug.
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