BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:

Korea-based Kyochon Chicken is set to bring its southeast Asian flair to the Glendale Galleria Food Court later this week.

Founded in Korea in 1991, the restaurant is the brainchild of Kyochon Chicken Chief Executive Won Kwon. There are 54 stores throughout Korea. According to Director of Operations Alexandria Yoo, Kwon’s chicken was so popular, he couldn’t keep up with demand for new store locations.

“He came to the United States in 2007,” Yoo said. “At that time, he opened two stores in L.A. and two stores in New York.”

In addition to the stores in Los Angeles and New York, two more stores, in addition to the one in the Galleria, are in the works. They include a store at the Westfield Shopping Center in Culver City and one in Los Cerritos Center in Los Cerritos. Another location is set to open in Manhattan.

The restaurant is set to open Friday in the Galleria, with festivities from 10 a.m. to noon that will include face painting and balloon art for kids, and a chance for the public to sample some of the restaurant’s fried chicken wings.

Kyochon (pronounced: keeyo-chone) chicken itself is fried chicken made in the Korean style and marketed as fast food. Cooks use a thinner batter, and the piece is bathed in zero-trans-fat canola oil so that it is not as greasy as other fried chicken. The oil itself is changed every three days. This makes for a healthier meal, Woo said.

Some of the restaurant’s menu items include a stir-fried chicken served with spicy or teriyaki sauce. The teriyaki sauce is exclusive to Kyochon. It is not as sweet as generic teriyaki sauce, Yoo said. The sauce is tangy and has more of a kick to it.

“All of our sauces are made in-house,” Yoo said.

Kyochon chose to set up shop in the Galleria due to the level of foot traffic.

Planning for the new restaurant began in November.

These are significant times for Kyochon Chicken, with mainstream push thanks in no small part to a review in the alternative L.A. Weekly, she said.

Feedback about the restaurant has generally been positive, Yoo said.

She hopes the high foot traffic in the Galleria will lend itself to allow people to try authentic Korean cuisine.