The Ventures Makes Seed Investment in U.S. Korean-Style Bakery Cafe 'Smoking Tiger'

Smoking Tiger, which operates Korean-style bakery cafes in California and Texas, has raised seed funding.

The Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage global investments, said on October 15 that it had completed a seed investment in Smoking Tiger.

Smoking Tiger launched in Southern California in 2020 and expanded into Texas last June. It currently operates stores in both areas. CEO Noah Cho has spent more than 10 years founding and growing F&B brands and has directly operated more than 20 brick-and-mortar stores. Pastry chef Choi Ayoung, who has more than 20 years of experience in Korea's baking industry, and branding expert Andy Lee, who has launched around 10 brick-and-mortar F&B brands, joined as founding members.

Smoking Tiger adds Korean flavors to lattes and breads familiar to American consumers. Signature lattes featuring corn, mugwort, banana milk, and black sesame account for more than half of beverage sales. Its bakery offerings include popular Korean items such as cream cheese garlic bread, purple sweet potato mochi bread, and salt bread. The stores bring to life the kind of spatial concept that has recently become popular in Seoul, with everything from packaging to in-store music unified around the same concept. The company has also expanded its connections with local customers through collaborative events with Korean companies, including Lotte, Jinro, and Emart America.

Smoking Tiger recorded revenue of $6.24 million last year, up 39% from $4.5 million in 2024. It has 71,885 members on its own app, and its repeat-customer rate exceeds 64%. Production is handled by its subsidiary Mugunghwa (M.G.H.). At its approximately 560-square-meter central kitchen, the company makes frozen dough, pastry sheets, and fillings and supplies them to each store. Centralizing production helps maintain consistent quality, and the facility can support up to 40 stores.

The company operates two store formats: large flagship “Bread Factory” locations that serve as gathering places for local communities, and smaller satellite “Coffee Lab” locations. The Bread Factory that opened last June in Carrollton, known as “Texas’s Koreatown,” generated more than $180,000 in sales within 30 days of opening. Coffee Lab locations were designed from the outset with franchising in mind, with lower opening costs. The Coffee Lab in Monterey Park generated $120,000 in sales within 60 days of opening. Around 100 prospective franchisees have also expressed interest.

Kim Cheolwoo, CEO of The Ventures, which led the investment, said, “American consumers who first encountered Korea through K-pop and dramas are now turning to Korea again through the coffee and bread they have every day. Smoking Tiger is a team that started in the United States and has built out its menu, stores, production, and franchise systems one step at a time, so we expect it to expand Korean-style cafes to cities across the United States.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.