Today we’d like to introduce you to David Kim. Them and their team share their story with us below:
David J. Kim is the co-founder and the strategic partner of Boba Republic, a milk tea cafe, whose first location opened in 2020 in Allen, Texas as well as a co-founder of Chingoo Properties, a small real estate investment firm based out of Houston, Texas in 2018.
Prior to focusing on his businesses full-time, David was the vice president for J.W. Entertainment (Jumping World), He helped oversee the expansion of the Texas-based indoor family entertainment center from seven locations to eleven locations across three states. Since joining the company in 2016, David has focused on streamlining and standardizing the store operations, increasing and implementing marketing efforts, enhancing the overall customer experience, and improving the employee retention rates.
Aside from working on his business ventures, David currently serves as the internal vice president on the international board of Lambda Phi Epsilon which is the largest Asian American-interest fraternity in North America. He hopes to enhance the college experience for Asian-Americans on college campuses by providing a platform for Asian American college students to become contributing leaders within their community.
David J. Kim was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance as well as his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Texas back in 2016. He is currently a part-time working professional student at the McCombs School of Business pursuing his MBA.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Opening any business is definitely tough, but opening a restaurant business in the beginning of a pandemic has definitely been a rewarding challenge. Navigating through uncertainty has definitely brought the whole team closer as communication has been the key for us to push forward.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Boba Republic?
We are a milk tea café that was founded in the DFW area in 2020. We take pride in the fact that we are not a franchise chain which allows us to be creative in our product offering and marketing efforts. We strongly believe that a great customer experience starts from the way we treat our staff and take pride in the fact that we have a low turnover ratio during a time where many restaurants have struggled to find staff. We are constantly working on new projects whether offering new food and drink products like mochi donuts and organic coffee or offering a full-service catering event! We also believe in investing in the communities that we serve and donate 3% of our profits to charities of our choosing – some decided by our staff! By investing in ourselves, our staff, and our communities, we believe we can provide consistent great customer experience that one would want and expect when entering a milk tea café.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The Covid-19 crisis had definitely impacted many facets of our business including the tapioca shortage, shipping delays caused by backed-up ports and lack of truck drivers, or scheduling conflicts due to staff contracting the virus or being in close contact with someone who had. The biggest impact it had was definitely on all of our staff members mentally. Waking up every day in a pandemic has been normalized, but to be working in an environment where you are constantly facing many individuals, it can be quite draining. The biggest lesson we learned was to do our best in preparing for the worst but most importantly to be empathetic to each other, our customers, our suppliers, and ourselves. We are all going through this together regardless who we are and where we are from.
Contact Info:
- Email: david.kim@bobaculture.com
- Website: davidjoonkim.com; bobaculture.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidjoonkim
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBobaRepublic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidjoonkim
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/boba-republic-allen?osq=boba+republic
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/bobarepublic
Image Credits
Joseph Onyendi
My Lai
Julia Limjuco
Jordan Lieuo
