The '600 billion sales myth' recalled Song Jung-hoon's difficult past.
On the broadcast of KBS2's 'Boss's ear is a donkey's ear' on the 13th, the scene of Song Jung-hoon visiting the place where he first started cup rice was depicted.
On this day, Song Jung-hoon visited the Utah State Capitol with his staff. With the help of his friend and staff member at the University of Utah, Brandon, he held a meeting with a Utah state senator and the governor. Song Jung-hoon expressed his confidence, saying, 'Let’s expand the board more, let’s show the real thing. We started the Bapshim project small and ended up doing it big. We hold a festival to promote Korea about once a year. Two years ago at our 10th anniversary event, over 20,000 people came. Now, I hope the Utah government will get involved. I have never failed. As a salesman, it's something I obviously have to do, so I will have to push through again.'
After the meeting, Song Jung-hoon's wife, Kim Ye-ri, reproached him, saying, 'Let’s work while eating. Why don’t you ever feed me when we work together?' and Song Jung-hoon replied, 'That’s true, but it's a bit late now, we can go eat now.' In response, complaints arose saying, 'If it's not delicious, I will eat at home,' and Song Jung-hoon clarified, 'There is a special place. We will eat there,' adding, 'Expensive things aren’t always good.'
The place they arrived at was where the first cup rice office was located. Song Jung-hoon said, 'This is where cup rice started and where I worked from early morning until dawn,' and he silently shed tears for a long time. Seeing this, Lee Soon-sil remarked, 'It reminds me of the hardships. I feel emotional and I might cry too. It breaks my heart.'
Song Jung-hoon recalled, 'It seems like it’s been about 3 to 4 years since I left there. And it’s my first time back. Isn’t it a special place? It’s where cup rice started, and it brings back old memories and feels new. I hadn’t been able to go there for a while because I thought about it too much. I kept circling the area. It was a place where the crew used to hang out and rest. I think my emotions were a bit like that. Many people say that customers are the best, but the best in our company is our crew members who work with us.'
Park Myung-soo asked, 'When was the most difficult time? Isn't it because of that moment that you are crying?' and Song Jung-hoon replied, 'There are various reasons. I don't only cry because it was hard, but because of all the memories. That's why I couldn't go there. So many people helped us and it's not just us. There were so many people who helped, so I think I cried a lot when I saw them.'
He then looked around the store and said, 'It has changed a lot. I shot a gun here and ran away,' surprising everyone. He added, 'There were a lot of troubles here. We shot a gun and ran away, and there were a lot of thefts. This place had its issues despite Utah being mostly safe. We were worried because it was a place we couldn't allow our kids to come to.' He continued, 'We had too many sales on Saturday, but we couldn’t deposit on Sunday. An employee who knew that came with bad kids and took everything that was stuck on the floor, including the cameras. At that time, that money was about 50 million won. We made it in two days, but they took everything. While there were more joyful moments, there were also those kinds of incidents, so when I opened the door, it all hit me.'
Later, after meeting with the son of a benefactor, Song Jung-hoon said, 'Our benefactor was there, and that benefactor has now passed away,' and recalled, 'At that time, the rent was $3,500 (approximately 4 million won), but I said we could only pay $1,500 because we had no money. Your father didn’t take rent for 6 months. That’s how we were able to survive.'
He said, 'Seeing us work hard, he didn't take rent for 6 months. He said, 'You are struggling, right? Don’t worry and work hard.' At that time when we opened, winter came, and there weren’t many customers due to being in a truck. He knew that. Without me saying a word, he came like an angel and told me he would give us 6 months to work hard and succeed.' He added, 'I paid everything back in almost a year. When I said he shouldn’t take it, he replied, 'It’s fine,' and accepted it.'
The old office had turned into a Mexican restaurant. Song Jung-hoon said, 'Since we are the same, let’s help each other,' and sat down with his staff to eat. While eating, he remarked, 'I went to Korean town and was surprised. Many places were closed. It seems that small business owners are really having a hard time,' referring to the recently shaky U.S. economy. He continued, 'Since Utah's economy is contracting, there aren’t many children. Many families have 4 or 5 kids. If you eat out, you have to spend $200 or $300, but it’s unaffordable, so people cut down from 5 times a month to 2 times and just cook at home.' He explained, 'It seems that difficulties always accompany business. I now understand that when one wave hits, another wave follows.'
Kim Ye-ri also recalled, 'When we first opened the truck, there was a well-performing waffle truck next to us. There were dozens of people in line while we had no one.' She added, 'I had someone give me a $100 tip.' Song Jung-hoon explained, 'There was someone who worked at a bank but was very unhappy and depressed. But during lunchtime, he passed by and saw hundreds of people lined up, so he also lined up and tried our food. When he came, he saw me sweating a lot in a small truck without air conditioning and wondered why I seemed so happy. He told me, 'You taught me a great lesson today.' I thought I needed to work hard as well. Since then, I’ve worked harder.'
In addition, Kim Ye-ri noted, 'There were many touching moments while running the truck. There were indeed many hard times. We've had several break-ins.' Despite facing a crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic, Song Jung-hoon stated, 'We didn’t just stay still; we did delivery and catering. Some households saw sales increase by 200%.'
Furthermore, Kim Ye-ri mentioned, 'We're able to talk about this because we survived. If we had lost the company, I would have gone back to New York.' Song Jung-hoon explained, 'In front of my wife, I was let go. I had nurtured that company for over nine years. It was shocking to be let go that day without warning. One of them was a brother I had known for 20 years. If such a thing happens, if that's what business entails, then I won’t do business at all.' He elaborated, 'When we started, it was based on my idea, and since I knew them, we shared equity at 33.3%. There was an older brother and a younger brother, but the younger one went out to start his own business. But as he left, he transferred his shares to someone else, and that person colluded with others to oust me.'
Representative No Hee-young asked, 'What was the reason?' and Song Jung-hoon replied, 'There must be a reason to fire someone. I was accused of hitting and abusing employees. But when the employees heard this, they said they had never seen me do that or curse.' Kim Ye-ri reflected, 'It seems they had been preparing for a while. I still vividly remember it. I suffered a lot and had serious depression and anxiety symptoms.'
He shared, 'One day, during that incident, my husband must have been contemplating whether to continue or not. At that moment, my daughter came in. She asked, 'Dad, should we stop cup rice?' When I told her, 'Why do I always say to start something and go all the way to the end, but now you want to give up? Then can I also drop out of school?' She urged me not to give up. From that moment, I felt I had to protect this, and I started to regain strength.' Jun Hyun-moo said, 'This is a movie.'
Afterward, he appeared on 'Shark Tank' and expressed, 'I wanted to show that cup rice belongs to us. When those employees heard this, even though they lived in another state, they said they would fly in to testify. There was absolutely no such thing as help, they said they would support me and cried with me, assuring me that no one would harm me, so I shouldn’t worry. That’s how I got my company back.'
As she listened, Representative No Hee-young also shed tears, saying, 'Don't brighter people usually try not to show their difficulties? They cry in secret. The truth is that while I have been pushed down, being fired while my wife is present is a huge wound. I think about how hard it must have been to overcome this and rise again.' She emphasized, 'The most important part is the contract when starting a business partnership. It's better to hurt each other's feelings then.'
[Photo] KBS2
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