Chimmelier: Building a Korean Fried Chicken Pop-Up Into a Three Brand Universe
Four years of creative direction for a Korean fried chicken brand that went from a weekly pop-up to a Melrose flagship, a franchised sool jib, and investor conversations on two continents.
Project Snapshot
Client: Chimmelier — Korean Fried Chicken
Location: Los Angeles, California
Years: 2022–2025
Role: Creative Director
Services: Creative direction, murals, packaging design, merchandise, signage, booth and environment design, interior design, menu design
The Challenge:
A pop-up with a following, but no branding to hold it.
Chimmelier reached out in 2021 to design one t-shirt for a collaboration with Gideon General, a content creator at BuzzFeed Tasty, for ComplexCon in Long Beach.
They were running a weekly pop-up at Smorgasburg with real momentum behind them, but everything around the food was built one event at a time.
There was no system underneath it. Dustin Lee, one of the owners, asked whether I could help fix that, starting with the booth.
WHAT WE MADE TOGETHER
The ComplexCon T-shirt, and the booth that followed
After the t-shirt, Dustin asked me to design the pop-up booth they used for events and for their weekly Smorgasburg residency.
That turned into merch kits for each event, usually a t-shirt, a postcard, and stickers, as the brand picked up bookings at Coachella and Head in the Clouds and private events for Sony and Red Bull.
From there we converted an old restaurant space on 8th Street in Koreatown into a Chimmelier takeout location.
Packaging built around the food, not the box
Their takeout container was steaming the chicken soggy. I worked with a manufacturer in China to engineer a box with extra ventilation, which meant choosing crispy over piping hot. For fried chicken that was the right trade.
The takeout bags came next, built durable enough that people would actually reuse them. We also made branded glove packets so nobody has to wreck their hands eating a box of chicken.
Jilli: Modern Sool Jib
When a restaurant partner left one of their locations, Dustin wanted to fill the space with an elevated take on Korean spirits and tapas that still felt connected to Chimmelier.
I built a minimal identity for Jilli and flew out to paint a 12 by 60 foot mural in under 48 hours to hit their turnover window. Jilli franchised and opened a second location in San Francisco's Mission District in 2025.
Drinks built with the Jilli identity
Jilli led to the first ready-to-drink collaboration, a branded canned soju cocktail with Yoju. A makgeolli label with Angma followed, along with a blonde ale label for [BREWERY].
OhG Burger
Late in 2024, Dustin and one of Chimmelier's original investors started a Korean-inspired smash burger concept in the Bay Area. I built the initial branding, then painted a mural for the second location on Solano Avenue in Oakland and led the design of the space, including signage, window displays, and the in-store menu. OhG has opened more locations since, with Chimmelier folded into the branding and the menu. For the third, I designed a large mural that was produced as a vinyl wall graphic.
The Melrose Flagship
In 2025 I led creative direction and interior design for Chimmelier's first flagship brick and mortar, on Melrose Avenue in the Melrose Arts District.
That meant branded material throughout the restaurant, exterior and interior signage, three t-shirts, three hats, seven murals, a sticker pack, and working directly with their vendors and contractors to get it built.
From a weekly pop-up to a Melrose flagship and three brands
What started as one t-shirt in 2021 is now a flagship on Melrose, a takeout location in Koreatown, a franchised sool jib with a second location in San Francisco, and a burger concept with several locations of its own. Chimmelier is in conversations with investors nationally and internationally about expanding to New York City, Dallas, Las Vegas, and South Korea.
“Long story short, Jack is a LIFE SAVER. He has been amazing to us by bringing our imagination into reality. Working with Jack helped us find our true brand identity. Do yourself a favor and start talking to Jack - He will change you and your business’s life!”
Donghyuk Lee - Founder
Opening something new, or rebranding something you already have?