Twelve GEN Korean BBQ House restaurants scattered across Texas — from Houston to El Paso — could soon be operating under new ownership after their parent company agreed to sell dozens of U.S. locations in a deal worth up to $100 million. The buyer, Chubby Group, is a hot pot and Japanese-cooking operator that already runs several wagyu-focused concepts in Houston, and it plans to fold the Korean barbecue chain's Texas footprint into its broader national expansion.
Gen Restaurant Group, based in Los Angeles, announced it signed a binding letter of intent to sell operations of 47 GEN Korean BBQ House restaurants to Chubby Group, according to Chron. The agreement, detailed in a release from Chubby Group, covers 47 U.S. restaurants and four development sites in a transaction valued at up to $100 million. Closing remains subject to definitive agreements, license and lease transfers, and regulatory approvals, the company said.
Texas accounts for a significant chunk of the chain being sold. GEN Korean BBQ House has 12 locations across the state, including three in the Houston area, five in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, two in the Austin area, and one each in El Paso and Waco, per Chron's reporting. The sale may include all 12 of those Texas locations, though Gen Restaurant Group has not identified which specific restaurants will ultimately remain under its own banner.
What Gen Keeps, What Chubby Takes
Under the proposed arrangement, Gen Restaurant Group will retain the GEN brand itself along with its consumer-packaged-goods business. The company will also remain publicly traded and hold onto roughly three restaurants — including one in Cerritos, California — for staff training and research and development, according to Chubby Group. The sale is also expected to reduce Gen's roughly $160 million in lease obligations, as reported by CoStar.
A separate joint venture previously announced between Chubby and Gen, in which Gen would hold a 49% interest, is not part of this restaurant sale, according to the same NRN report. The deal itself was first announced in August, per Chubby Group's own release.
A Four-Phase Takeover Timeline
Chubby plans to take over the restaurants in four phases spread across 12 months, with the first batch of 12 locations targeted for Nov. 1, 2026. Once in control, the company intends to relaunch each restaurant either as GEN X — described as a wagyu-forward take on the Korean barbecue guests already know — or under one of its other Chubby Club concepts, per the Chubby Group announcement. Chubby has said it plans to build on the existing Korean barbecue experience with that wagyu-forward menu approach, and it has already listed Austin and San Antonio locations as coming soon under its own branding, according to Chron.
David Zhao, founder of Chubby Group, framed the acquisition as a growth accelerant. Gen has built one of the leading Korean barbecue brands in the United States, Zhao said, and acquiring the 47 restaurants gives Chubby an established, high-traffic platform to accelerate national growth. Chubby has also said it remains committed to completing the acquisition and executing a disciplined, phased transition.
Chubby's Expanding Restaurant Empire
Chubby Group was founded in 2016 by Haibin Yang, David Zhao and Joyce Li, according to Nation's Restaurant News. The company launched Chubby Cattle Hotpot in Las Vegas before expanding into Chinese and Mongolian hot pot and later Japanese cooking. In Houston, it already operates Mikiya Wagyu Shabu House in Chinatown, known for all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu, and Wagyu House inside the Galleria, which offers all-you-can-eat wagyu.
The company's reach has grown considerably in recent years. Chubby Cattle Group now operates about 70 locations across 25 brands and reported $233 million in revenue last year, according to Restaurant Dive. Systemwide revenue has climbed from $1.5 million in 2016 to $233 million in 2025, with $400 million projected for 2026, the company said in its announcement. Chubby is also targeting 100 restaurants total by the end of this year, per Nation's Restaurant News, and recently closed a $50 million Series A funding round led by Prysm Capital at a $500 million valuation.
Gen Restaurant Group had at least 54 locations earlier this year when it began considering a sale of its restaurant business, according to Restaurant Dive. The broader Korean dining sector has been expanding steadily: the number of Korean restaurants in the U.S. increased 10% in 2023, per a Circana report cited by CoStar, and sales at Asian full- and limited-service restaurants outside the Asia-Pacific region have grown at an 11% compound annual rate from 2020 to 2025 — outpacing the 7% growth rate for the restaurant industry overall, according to Chubby's own filing.
