Bonchon, the Busan-born Korean fried chicken brand with roughly 500 restaurants across nine countries, is being acquired by Minor Food and Serruya Private Equity from existing shareholders VIG Partners and the founding Seo family, the company announced on August 14. The transaction, expected to close by the end of August, hands Bangkok-based Minor Food ownership of the brand and its operations everywhere outside the Americas, while Toronto-based Serruya Private Equity takes the business across North and South America.
Rather than a single buyer absorbing the whole system, the deal splits Bonchon along complementary territorial lines. Minor Food — a wholly owned subsidiary of Thailand-listed Minor International (MINT) — becomes the global owner outside the Americas, a footprint that covers the brand’s Asia Pacific heartland. Serruya Private Equity (SPE) assumes ownership throughout the Americas, where Bonchon passed 150 US locations in 2026. The two groups have worked together for more than 30 years, which explains the unusually clean split of responsibilities.
The acquisition is a textbook case of a master franchisee graduating into brand ownership. Minor Food is currently Bonchon’s master franchisee in Thailand, and with this deal it converts operating knowledge of a key market into control of the global brand — adding what the company calls a high-growth, asset-light, royalty-driven business to a portfolio that already spans 2,843 outlets in 24 countries, including The Pizza Company, Swensen’s, Dairy Queen, Burger King, Sizzler, Benihana and The Coffee Club. It is the same trajectory seen across the region as Asian operators consolidate Korean fried chicken franchising in Asia Pacific.
“Bonchon is one of the most compelling global restaurant brands.”
That assessment from Michael Serruya, Chairman of Serruya Private Equity, is backed by a family track record that includes Yogen Früz, Pinkberry, Cold Stone Creamery, Marble Slab Creamery and Sprinkles Cupcakes — more than 1,300 locations in over 40 countries. SPE invests the family’s own capital, allowing a patient, long-term ownership approach.
SPE plans to invest in Bonchon’s existing US platform while pursuing disciplined expansion with priority markets in Canada, Mexico and Chile, alongside continued development in existing US states.
Bonchon’s sale lands amid sustained global appetite for Korean food, entertainment and lifestyle. Founded in Busan in 2002, the brand built its following on hand-battered, double-fried chicken and steady franchise-led growth — the same cultural tailwind carrying peers such as bhc into the Philippines and Mom’s Touch into Singapore.
For serious franchise investors, the signal is unambiguous: strategic and private capital continue to pay up for scaled, royalty-led Asian F&B platforms. A Minor Food-owned Bonchon will have balance-sheet strength and regional infrastructure behind its Asia Pacific and Middle East development — historically the moment when country-level rights get awarded faster and to better-capitalised partners. Operators in Southeast Asia and the GCC watching large systems compound store counts should expect Korean fried chicken to remain one of the region’s most contested master franchise categories.
Source: Franchising.com — Bonchon to be Acquired by Minor Food and Serruya Private Equity
