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How to resolve AdBlock issue? Gami chicken (and beer) becomes a genuine Aussie Korean experience
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
THE GAMI CHICKEN franchise operation is an extraordinary Australian success story.
It started with a Korean restaurant in Melbourne in 2006. Now it’s expanded its franchise operations with 32 casual dining locations across Victoria, NSW, ACT, South Australia and Western Australia.
It’s not in Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory yet, but give it time. They are planning to expand.
Jun Lee, the co-founder and executive director of Gami chicken (increasingly referred to as Gami chicken and beer), said the company’s motto is to “bring a slice of Korea into everyday Aussie life”.
“We’d like to introduce very good Korean culture and also Korean food that is very tasty and affordable because that’s what Korean foods are,” Mr Lee told Talking Business. 
“We are seeing a solid shift in trend in the market, especially given economic circumstances we are facing every day.
“Also, there is a somewhat different way of interpreting value. For example, it’s not only the affordability and the price tag but also people seem to see more value in variety and cultural experience with an affordable price tag,” Mr Lee said.
“It has to be affordable so that people pay attention to it – but at the end of the day when they are deciding on which foods they are taking, the price tag is not the only one but also the cultural influence as well.
“People’s interests, markets’ interests are changing --- and that’s what we are seeing from our data too.”
Genuine Korean dining experience
Gami chicken is also offering rice cakes that you can cook on the table. There is also beer, Mr Lee said.
“We are bringing a lot more traditional Korean foods that have been popular for a thousand years in Korea, which has been tested and favoured a lot throughout history,” Mr Lee said.
He said the Gami restaurants were not there as “fine dining”. Staff come out, talk to the customers, recommend foods to them if they are new – and casual dishes are brought out for them.
Mr Lee said he had been overwhelmed by the way Australians had taken to Korean food,
“When we started (2006), Korean fried chicken and beer was very new and when I came to this beautiful country 25 years ago, Korean culture was introduced but it was not widely accepted like today,” he said. 
He attributed a lot of its acceptance to the growth of Korean movies and entertainment in Australia (Korean entertainment has a strong following through streaming services especially) which has been particularly popular with the younger generation.
“People have started to try the dishes they saw in this entertainment media,” he said.
Korean movies and TV help drive popularity
That was translated into stronger business for Gami in 2024 and 2025.
The growth of Gami chicken has especially come through its franchise operations.
“There are a growing number of franchisees taking new stores from me so, in reality, I think the system we developed is pretty good,” Mr Lee said.
He said because there was alway a lot of communication with franchisees, the system is challenging “but we are learning something new every day”.
“I thought when I finished my MBA I’m done with my study, but I’m learning everything new every day.”
Mr Lee plans to turn Gami chicken restaurants into the equivalent of British pubs in the UK, where ‘meeting at the pub’ is part of everyday life, where people almost automatically go with colleagues and friends for a get-together and chat.
“I hope we can be part of Australian life like that,” Mr Lee said.
“You can wear thongs to come into our store and talk about anything with mates and friends. You can be loud, you can be quiet.
“We hope we can be in every corner of each state.” 
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
https://shows.acast.com/talkingbusiness/episodes/talking-business-12-interview-with-jun-lee-from-gami-chicken
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