Riding the K-culture wave, Korean café chains take another shot at the U.S. market

South Korean café franchises are knocking on America’s door again, hoping that the global popularity of K-culture will help them avoid the bitter experience of earlier entrants that pulled out of the market.

Twosome Place said at a press briefing in Seoul on the 3rd that it would open its first U.S. store roughly 25 years after the company began in 2002. The 78-seat, 241-square-meter location will open in October in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, a historic town that attracts visitors from across the United States.

Rather than starting in Los Angeles or New York, where Korean commercial districts are well established, Twosome chose an area with heavy local foot traffic. The strategy aims to appeal directly to American consumers. More than half of the store’s roughly 80 products will be cakes and deli items, with 33 cake varieties and eight deli offerings. The menu reflects the spread of an “all-day café” culture in the United States, where customers increasingly pair coffee with meals regardless of the time of day.

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The K-culture boom is drawing strong interest from American consumers and providing a favorable foundation for Korean cafés entering the market.

Twosome plans to expand its company-owned U.S. locations to around 15 before considering a franchise operation if profitability is secured. TheVenti has signed a multi-unit franchise agreement with a local partner and plans to open its first Las Vegas store in the second half of this year. Ediya Coffee, which opened its first Guam store in 2023 and entered Canada in April, has set mainland U.S. expansion as a medium- to long-term goal. Paik’s Coffee, which opened its first overseas store in Japan last month, also plans to enter the U.S. market next year.

The chains are returning to a difficult market. Hollys opened in Los Angeles in 2008 but withdrew in 2012, while Caffebene expanded from its first New York store in 2012 with ambitions for hundreds of franchises before closing all its U.S. locations. Analysts attributed those failures to aggressive expansion, high operating costs, strong incumbents such as Starbucks, and insufficient adaptation to local tastes and prices. Euromonitor projects the U.S. café market will grow from $52.47 billion in 2025 to $61.54 billion in 2030.

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As competition intensifies in the domestic market, Korean café brands are expanding their growth stage into large consumer markets such as the United States.