‘Sexy' Korean-American fried chicken restaurant has a deeper message for diners
He brands Coqodaq, which opened in 2024, as a 'cathedral of fried chicken', with its churchlike design, 1,000-person-plus nightly waiting list, viral caviar-topped nuggets, and a champagne menu that Kim boasts is the longest in the US.
While these features get customers through the door, Kim hopes that what sticks most is a focus on delivering more environmentally friendly meals.
'When they see that environmental causes are a part of this sexy, successful restaurant, it starts to create a little more interest – an initiation to learn more,' Kim said at the recent Bloomberg Green Seattle conference in the US.
Simon Kim is the founder and chief executive officer of Gracious Hospitality Management. Photo: Cote
Coqodaq's chicken is from a regenerative Amish farm in the state of Pennsylvania that produces certified humane, pasture-raised birds. The 150-seat restaurant uses cultured oil from Zero Acre Farms, which touts its product as delivering vastly lower emissions than typical alternatives, along with reduced water consumption and land use.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
US woman who funnelled Chinese investor money to Trump campaign pleads guilty
A New York businesswoman has pleaded guilty in connection with a financial scheme that ripped off more than US$30 million from foreign investors and funnelled some of the stolen money into US political campaigns, including a 2017 fundraiser for President Donald Trump during his first term. Sherry Xue Li, 48, of Oyster Bay, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court on Long Island to money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the US by obstructing the Federal Election Commission's administration of campaign finance laws. She faces up to 20 years in prison and is set to be sentenced on December 5. Her lawyer, Kevin Keating, declined to comment on the plea and the charges on Wednesday. She has been detained since her arrest in 2022. Li's co-defendant, Lianbo Wang, pleaded guilty to similar charges in March 2024 and was sentenced to five years in prison. Prosecutors say the scheme went on for nearly a decade. Li and Wang coaxed investors, many of whom were from China, into contributing US$500,000 each to a fictitious development project, with a false promise to guarantee them lawful permanent resident status in the US, authorities said. They used millions of dollars from those investments for personal expenses, including clothing, jewellery, housing, holiday travel and upscale dining, officials said.
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
US Senate Democrats try resolution to cancel Trump's Brazil tariffs
Top Senate Democrats are working to block President Donald Trump's plan to implement high duties on goods from Brazil, charging that they are being used for political purposes. Advertisement 'We're particularly concerned about these tariffs on Brazil – which are being put into place to get the Brazilian Supreme Court to stop its prosecution of Trump's long-time friend Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil's former president who is facing criminal charges for inciting a violent coup,' Senators Tim Kaine, Chuck Schumer, Jeanne Shaheen and Ron Wyden said in a statement. A 50 per cent tariff is set to be imposed on Brazilian imports next week, though the emergency declaration exempts many of the country's biggest exports. 02:12 Brazil plans to retaliate against US tariffs that partly aim to free former leader Bolsonaro Brazil plans to retaliate against US tariffs that partly aim to free former leader Bolsonaro The senators intend to file a privileged resolution, one of the few tools Congress has to rein in the president's tariff efforts. The move would allow them to bypass certain procedural hurdles and force a vote on the floor, requiring senators to go on the record with their position. A separate Democrat-led move earlier this year to end the tariffs on Canadian goods passed with bipartisan support, though its companion resolution in the House was blocked before getting a vote. Trump could veto such a resolution, which he threatened to do to the one to end tariffs on Canadian imports, though Congress could override the veto with a two-thirds supermajority. Advertisement
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump's cooper-tariff tumult sees prices fall as scope of impact defies expectations
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing a 50 per cent tariff on certain copper imports – notably excluding refined copper – on Wednesday, sending US copper prices tumbling by around 20 per cent to US$4.44 a pound as of Thursday afternoon. Advertisement The move clarified the scope of Trump's initial announcement in early July, which had led US futures prices to rally to a record high of nearly US$6 and prompted traders to accelerate shipments in anticipation of widespread duties. In this explainer, the Post examines the differences between the finalised tariffs and Trump's previous threat, while looking at what the move could mean for global markets. How do the new tariffs compare with Trump's earlier threat? Trump's initial threat of a 50 per cent copper levy on July 8 was vague on specifics, but the market had broadly expected it to encompass all forms of the metal, from raw materials to finished products. The newly announced tariffs, however, are far more limited in scope. According to the White House, the tariffs – which take effect on Friday – apply only to imports of semi-finished copper products, such as copper pipes and wires, and certain copper-intensive goods, such as cables and electrical components. Advertisement Input materials for smelters and manufacturers, such as ores, concentrates and, crucially, cathodes, are exempted from the steep duties. Cathodes, also known as refined copper, represent the US' chief copper imports – the country operates only two primary copper smelters and lacks the domestic processing capacity to meet its own needs for refined copper.
