How Momos Coffee, the best coffee in Korea, grew up
Momos Coffee CEO Jeon Joon-yeon, Director Jung Joo-eun
The specialty coffee* culture in Busan started with Momos Coffee in 2007, and now baristas who have learned the know-how from Momos are spreading across the country. There are more than 250 cafes that receive beans from Momos!
*Defined as a premium coffee that scores over 80 points on the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCA) quality scale. It also refers to coffee that has been well managed in the process of growing, transporting, roasting, and extracting beans.
On Christmas Eve 2021, Momos Roastery & Coffee Bar opened in Yeongdo-gu, Busan. Yeongdo is the coffee mecca of Busan with over 200 cafes. When I arrived in Yeongdo, I could smell the coffee aroma from the sea breeze!
When I got off at Nampo Station on Busan Line 1 and crossed Yeongdo Bridge, I walked along the harbor with old ships floating in a row, and I saw a building with a mural of a girl. I thought it was an abandoned factory, but it was Momos Coffee.
CEO Jeon Jeon-yeon and Director Jeong Joo-eun greeted me with a Busan dialect as I was admiring the place.
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Chapter 1.
Startup: The first step in business is ‘vision’, not capital or technology
In May 2007, Momos Coffee started as a 4-pyeong takeout shop in the back alley of Oncheonjang Station in Dongnae-gu. It was a neighborhood with no foot traffic and an elderly population. The founder of Momos Coffee was Lee Hyun-ki*, who opened the cafe in Oncheonjang with the idea that ‘if you can survive in a place like this, you can do it anywhere’.
*Since March 2022, Momos Coffee has been run by co-owners Jeon Jeon-yeon and Park Jung-soo. Former CEO Lee Hyun-ki stepped down as CEO and is now working as a green bean buyer. Green bean buyer is a job that selects and imports good green beans locally.
Lee originally worked at a civil engineering company. He was good at his job, but somehow he didn’t feel like this was the right path. Looking at his seniors, it didn’t seem like the future for him.
He decided to go into business for himself. He chose coffee because it was a low barrier to entry and his parents owned a restaurant, so he converted a warehouse into a cafe.
He started by renting a roasting machine and roasting his own beans. He hired two baristas even though he wasn’t making any sales. After opening, he bought a roasting machine and put it in one side of the store.
“The more business didn’t go well, the more he invested. He went into debt, opened another store in Seomyeon*, hired more people, and developed a menu. There were no customers, but the staff was busy. We opened at 10 a.m., got to work at 8 a.m., and didn’t close the shutters until midnight. He was studying coffee. He had a nosebleed every morning.”
_Director Jung Ju-eun
Isn’t it strange? Why did the employees go out of their way to work if they couldn’t make a living?
“Our boss is almost like Elon Musk, and he talks about the future every day. ‘Let’s represent Busan,’ ‘Let’s make the world stage hot,’ and when I hear things like that, I think, ‘If I work with this person, I will achieve something.’”
_Joo Eun Jung, Director
But within a year of opening, the store was in the red. The debt grew while the staff grew to six, and the daily sales were only $30,000 to $40,000. In December 2007, Lee was in tears, thinking, “Should I sell the car, pay the staff, and close the store?
Chapter 2.
Growing: Becoming known as a community, creating a community
The power of a vision is that it moves people to action, even in the face of adversity. That’s exactly how Momos Coffee became known.
In December 2007, when Lee was thinking about closing the business, a post was posted on a community called “Busan Couples’ Information Exchange (Bukjeong),” which has more than 120,000 members. The post recommended Momos Coffee as delicious. The employees developed a waffle as a new menu to save Momos. They went to department stores and subway stations for tasting events, and a cafe manager from “Bukjeong” visited Momos Coffee’s Seomyeon branch.
In July 2008, we expanded our Onsen store to the second floor. We went from a take-out shop to a full-fledged cafe.
The employees realized the power of community and decided to create one themselves. They built the space, expanded to the second floor, and built a seminar room on one side. They held coffee classes there, and coffee lovers came to Momos Coffee.
“Coffee is a culture that brings people together. I used to want to be a technician who could make a really good cup of coffee, but what we’re doing now is making a culture out of coffee.”
_Joo Yeon Jeon
Momos strengthened its community by inviting lecturers to paint with customers, hosting wine parties, and feasting with customers on employees’ birthdays. Momos also created an online cafe to communicate with customers. When a regular customer came in, the staff would say, “Ode to you (online cafe nickname),” and the customer would say to the staff, “Juice (employee nickname), please make coffee today.”
Education: Becoming an expert to pass on know-how
As word of mouth spread, franchise inquiries began to come in. Mr. Lee refused, and instead, he met with people one-on-one to pass on his know-how. He believed that the vision was to educate, not sell like a product.
In 2011, he opened an academy and started teaching specialty coffee for a fee. After completing the course, the students opened cafes one by one. The beans were sourced from Momos. That’s how his dream distribution business began. Today, 50% of his sales come from distribution.
To teach, I had to know coffee better. I studied day and night, attended seminars, but it wasn’t enough. Momos started going overseas. Since 2011, I’ve been getting coffee certifications overseas, traveling to bean producers, and participating in domestic and international competitions.
Chapter 3.
Mission: Become a world-class barista and industry speaker
One of Momos Coffee’s top professional outputs is Jeon Jeon-yeon, who joined the company as a part-timer in late 2007, became a full-time employee in 2008, and started competing in 2009.
At that time, baristas were called “part-time students who make coffee.” When Jeon decided to join the company, her family, friends, and even her professor were against it. One day, Lee Hyun-ki showed her a video of the 2009 World Barista Championship.
“Everyone was against my job, but in that video, thousands of people were cheering for one barista. It was like Michael Jackson, and that aura showed me the value of my work.”
_Jeon Jeon
From then on, Jeon had one goal: to stand on that stage and show the value of baristas. I started competing in domestic competitions right after that.
I spent nine years trying to become a national team member. Whenever I had questions while working in the field, I drew mind maps in my notebook. I looked up thesis materials in between work. I didn’t have a set study time. I studied from the time I woke up in the morning until I closed my eyes after work. For nine years, I spent every day with coffee.
Even with all his efforts, the barrier to the national team was high, so he switched roles and became a judge* to see what was wrong.
*After completing a training program organized by the SCA Korea Chapter and passing a written and practical test, you can register to judge competitions.
“It’s not just the athletes who are nervous, it’s the judges as well. You have to be close to people to be able to empathize with them. It’s more important to be comfortable than accurate.”
_Jeon Jeon
Jeon became a member of the national team in 2018 and won the world championship in 2019. The key was to be comfortable. Jeon didn’t stand at the table, but sat down to demonstrate, because she knew from experience that athletes and judges are all the same people.
She was the first Korean winner and the only female winner that year. After her victory, Jeon began to promote the value of authentic baristas. She kept the words “barista” and “specialty coffee” in the media, appeared on local broadcasts in her home country, and started Momos Coffee’s YouTube channel.
“Baristas are directors, and good beans don’t make good coffee. It can be bitter depending on the weather, humidity, music, and space. It’s their job to control all the environments and emotions that go into a cup, and it’s my job to share that value with the world.”
_Joo Yeon Joon
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Chapter 4.
Local: Blending Ganoderma lucidum with coffee
Chatper 5.
Specialty Coffee: Creating, Communicating, and Symbolizing Momos’ Identity
Chapter 6.
Change: Innovation comes when there is no stubbornness
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