Broadcaster Jo Hye-ryeon [YouTube channel 'Johyeryeon: Jo Hye-ryeon']
Broadcaster Jo Hye-ryeon [YouTube channel 'Johyeryeon: Jo Hye-ryeon']

Broadcaster Jo Hye-ryeon, 56, has revealed that she once opened five shaved-ice franchise stores more than a decade ago, only to shut them all down.

Jo shared the story Wednesday on her YouTube channel "Johyeryeon: Jo Hye-ryeon," in an episode featuring a reunion with fellow broadcaster Kim Gu-ra, a friend of 30 years.

Jo made her debut in 1993 as a KBS special recruit, while Kim debuted the same year through an SBS open audition. The two said they grew close working together on the MBC variety show "Sebaekwi" (2008–2015) and the SBS program "Bungeo-ppang" (2009–2015), and reflected on the years that had passed.

When Jo said, "Gu-ra used to have no warmth back then. I didn't have any emotional breathing room either," Kim shot back, "Didn't you used to run five shaved-ice stores at once?" — bringing up just how stretched Jo had been.

"I did. And I lost it all," Jo said with a rueful laugh, adding, "It was just too cold in winter" — a nod to how hard it was to keep a shaved-ice business running through the off-season.

Jo operated five stores across Gyeonggi Province in the early days of the Sulbing franchise's expansion, more than a decade ago.

In a separate YouTube appearance a few months earlier, Jo had also mentioned the venture, saying, "I opened my first store in Incheon when there were only 13 locations nationwide." She said she got in as an early mover, with customers lining up outside, and was so excited that even during church services her mind was entirely on the store. "Greed kicked in, and every time I saw a second floor I started looking for a spot to open another store. That's how I ended up with five," she said.

But the expansion proved too ambitious. "In winter, it's cold, so people just don't eat it," Jo said, explaining that she could not survive the slow season. "As time went on it got really hard, and I ended up selling them off one by one at a loss. That's how I learned about life," she said.


paq@heraldcorp.com