For Jessie Kim, the co-founder and COO of Gogobop, food has always been about family. So when she realized how much her loved ones liked the Korean food she would make for them, starting a restaurant seemed like the natural next step for her and her husband, Steve Kim. 

Gogobop is the latest addition to USC Village, marrying Korean flavors with Chipotle-esque convenience. The eatery replaced Kobunga Korean Grill, which opened at USC Village eight years ago. 

The Kims opened their first location in Koreatown in 2017. According to Steve Kim, the original location had a vastly different menu from what is currently offered at Gogobop locations. 

“We had bowls, we had sandwiches, we had tacos, we had ramen. We had way too much on the menu,” said Steve Kim, Gogobop’s co-founder and CEO. “It wasn’t long after [when] we realized that our rice bowls were becoming our identity. People were coming in, and that’s what they were coming back for.”

Planning to bring Gogobop to USC began just one year after opening their inaugural location. Securing their third restaurant — after years of trying — was a happy surprise to the couple. 

“It’s exciting, and we’ve been overwhelmed with the people welcoming us into the community,” Steve Kim said. “It’s a new business, it’s a new location, it’s a new community. So of course, there’s a little bit of anxiety there … but at the same time, we just want to show up and do what we know how to do.”

For the Kims, their mission is “community through food and friendship.”

“I have four siblings. … They’re in Korea, [and] they’re in the restaurant business,” Jessie Kim said. “Food is [a] big part of our family, and I [have] always wanted to have restaurants. … We’ve been doing this nine years; every day I enjoy what I’m doing.” 

The food business is not unfamiliar to Steve Kim, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Korea in the 1960s and later opened delis and a liquor store in New Jersey. 

“It’s something that I never thought I would do, and now I really don’t think I could do anything else,” Steve Kim said. “It’s a blessing to show up every day and figure out how we can do better, how we can deliver on a promise consistently. … We’re in the people business more so than the food business.”

The couple wanted their restaurant to be approachable to a diverse customer base, and to set themselves apart from the Los Angeles food scene by not feeling constricted to “traditional” Korean food. 

“The beauty of what we’re doing is [that] we can create a whole new category, and it doesn’t have to be traditional, and I think that allowed us the room to be flexible and approach it with zero expectation,” Steve Kim said. 

For Giselle Verducco, a local student and employee at Gogobop, the reception from the USC community has been reassuring.

“We always have customers coming in after they finish their food and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, it was so good, I’m definitely coming back,’” Verducco said. ”It just makes me happy because I’m glad they liked it.” 

The fact that Gogobop is family-owned is important to Verducco, who said it makes hospitality a bigger focus and ensures that every member of the team feels important. 

Part of that hospitality is designing recipes that a wide customer base can enjoy. For Jessie Kim, that process often starts with observing other restaurants and analyzing food trends — like gochujang, a red chili paste, which has become popular across the country in the past few years. 

“There’s a certain level of risk tolerance that comes with [owning a business],” Steve Kim said. “It’s like anything in the creative world with music, everything, there’s a little bit of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. …  I think that’s part of the culinary art, or any kind of art. It’s just a reappropriation of another art.”

Gogobop had its soft opening at USC Village in late July, and is set to open its fourth location in Monrovia later this year. 

David Rendon contributed to this report.