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They found an angel investor who supported their concept fully, and the next step was finding the perfect location - which also happens to be the former location of Midtown Alliance’s Midtown Blue operations center. Peter Chung and Sean Chang, owners at Mukja.Īfter graduating college in 2019, Chung and Chang thought it was just a matter of sorting out the logistics for their restaurant. “And fried chicken is synonymous with the South. “We thought Atlanta could really use something like that, it’s a great way to get people exposed to Korean flavors on an introductory level,” Chang said. He and Chung decided to give opening a restaurant a shot, with Chung handling the financial parts of the business and Chang taking on the role of chef. When Chang took a franchising class and used a fast-casual Korean fried chicken restaurant as a project, he was sold. “When I was taking my hospitality courses, we kept joking this could be a restaurant concept.” “While we were living together, I was always cooking random recipes and menus for people,” Chang said. They decided to room together while attending college - Chung was in school at Georgia Tech, and Chang transferred to the hospitality school at Georgia State University. It was during his rehabilitation at Shepherd Center in Buckhead that Chang reconnected with Chung, who he had originally met on a church retreat. “It was a journey of rehab and situating what life would be or could be,” said Chang. On the way home after taking exams, Chang was in a terrible car accident that paralyzed him from the waist down. His family moved to Georgia in 2006, and he enrolled in college. His family is from Joella-do, a province in Korean known for its delicious dishes, and he was also drawn to the Latin-Korean fusion that is a huge part of L.A.’s thriving restaurant scene. We sat down with Chang to learn about how he brought his “Seoul Food” concept to life in Midtown Atlanta.Ĭhang said he was blessed to be exposed to a lot of Korean food growing up in Los Angeles. Despite the challenges, Mukja was able to open for business in late October 2020. Just as they graduated and prepared to make their debut as restaurateurs, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Chang was in a very serious car accident as a freshman that left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to find work, and the two reconnected and decided to open their own restaurant.
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Mukja (“Let’s Eat!”) was founded by two friends, Peter Chung and Sean Chang, while they were rooming together in college in Atlanta. Located in the Metropolis building on Peachtree Place, the incredible menu includes Southern sides with a Korean twist as well as chicken - and the story behind the restaurant is incredible as well. If you haven’t spent as much time exploring Midtown in recent months, you might have missed the opening of Mukja Korean Fried Chicken.