Baek Jong-won, beyond being the teacher of ‘Kang Sik-jang’, became the boss of ‘Business Genius Baek Sajang’
Working with Yuri, John Park, and Lee Jang-woo
Working with Yuri, John Park, and Lee Jang-woo
Baek Jong-won, a culinary researcher and entrepreneur who enjoyed mukbang on the overseas location entertainment show 'Street Food Fighter' and healing on 'Eat, Sleep, Eat', returns as the owner of a Korean restaurant. Baek Jong-won, who played an active role as a teacher in 'Kang's Kitchen', a spin-off of 'Youn's Kitchen', started his own business overseas. Attention is focused on how Baek Jong-won, who used to eat and play overseas, will show himself as a president rather than a customer.
Baek Jong-won is filming an entertainment program with Girls' Generation's Yuri, John Park, and Lee Jang-woo in Naples, southern Italy. The title is ‘Business Genius White Sand Beach (working title)’. This news was first reported through local Italian media.
Fan Page reported that a Korean restaurant opened in the location of an authentic restaurant that had been in operation for over 80 years in Naples. In the photo released along with this, the exterior of the restaurant stands out with a sign that reads 'Baekban House' in Korean, along with 'Baek Jong-won', 'Girls' Generation Yuri', 'Naengmyeon John Park', 'Udon Restaurant Lee Jang-woo', 'Please come in ^^', ' It shows a blackboard menu with words such as ‘Korean food’ and ‘Thank you ^^’ written on it.
Accordingly, tvN said on the 1st, "tvN is preparing a new program 'Business Genius Baeksajang (tentative title)' that challenges Baek Jong-won and the global restaurant market. Please understand that we cannot confirm specific details to ensure safe and smooth filming. Details “I will tell you more details, including the original concept, later,” he said.
Baek Jong-won has appeared in various food entertainment shows such as 'Home Cook Teacher Baek', 'Alley Restaurant', 'Delicious Men's Square', 'High School Lunch King', 'Father Baek', and 'Backpacker', and has been called the 'Hand of Midas in the restaurant industry'. gained popularity. Although he is not a professional chef, he introduced popular recipes that anyone can easily follow and added expert explanations to create the 'Baek Jong-won' entertainment show.
It is unusual for Baek Jong-won, who has gone beyond being a 'mentor of self-employed people' to becoming a 'national mentor', to appear as a 'boss' in an entertainment show. Even in the early days of 'Delicious Men's Square', rest areas provided food to customers for money, but it was different from a professional restaurant.
Above all, the fact that Baek Jong-won opened a Korean restaurant in Italy, not in Korea, is also a point of note. The representative program of this format is definitely ‘Youn’s Kitchen’. 'Youn's Kitchen', which opened Korean restaurants in small towns on the island of Bali, Indonesia, and Tenerife, Spain, attracted attention every season, and season 2 recorded the highest viewer ratings of tvN's entertainment show ever.
The employees of 'Business Genius Baeksajang' include Girls' Generation's Yuri, a 'golden cook', John Park, a 'naengmyeon enthusiast', and Lee Jang-woo, the 'owner of a udon restaurant'. In particular, attention is being paid to the chemistry that will be created with Lee Jang-woo, who is serious about eating, Yuri, who has proven her excellent cooking skills through her YouTube channel, and Baek Jong-won, who is expected to act as an interpreter for the locals.
Prior to this, tvN will first release ‘Seojin’s’, a spin-off of ‘Youn’s Kitchen’. 'Seojin's' is also a variety show in which Lee Seojin, who played an active role as a director in 'Youn's Restaurant', is promoted to president and runs a restaurant named after himself. Filming was completed in complete secrecy in Bacalar, Mexico, and Jung Yu-mi, Choi Woo-sik, and BTS's V worked together as employees.
It is still unclear whether Baek Jong-won, who started his first business overseas, will be able to create a program that surpasses the stronghold of 'Youn's Restaurant', or whether it will be a program with only Baek Jong-won in an obvious format. While the charm of 'Youn's Kitchen' and 'Kang's Kitchen' is that even the boss struggles to prepare food, Baek Jong-won is such an expert. This is why expectations and concerns coexist with Baek Jong-won, who is challenging himself as the president, and Baek Sa-jang, a business genius.
Taeyuna, Ten Asia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr