Hey Friends. My name is J.H. Chang, and together with my husband Shea Winter Roggio, I started Soko Bag, a family-owned Korean fried chicken restaurant based in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
It all started when my husband Shea and I were living in Dubai in 2018 and regularly traveled to South Korea to visit my family in Gumi. My husband, who is American, fell in love with the South Korean fried chicken business model, and together with my mother, we began perfecting our own family recipe.
Once the pandemic hit, both our companies in Dubai closed and we moved to South Korea. During this time, my husband took classes at HUFS (a university in Seoul) to study Hangul (Korean language), and I became pregnant with our son, Skye. My husband moved back to the states while we waited for my visa to come through, and in July of 2022, we were finally all reunited in America.
Ready to begin our lives in Pennsylvania, the birth of Soko Bag became a reality as we started exploring options of collaborating with local establishments and doing “pop-ups” in the area.
Along with traditional Korean fried chicken, we decided to create some fusion items on the menu which would resonate with the local Philly crowd, such as bulgogi cheesesteaks. But that’s not all we offer; we have incorporated some traditional Korean staples into our menu, such as mandu (Korean dumplings), hotteok (Korean cinnamon pancakes) and more.
Our goal is to become your number one spot for Korean fried chicken in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. We are sure you will enjoy your visit and your food, and spread the good word around. Now, let me tell you all about our secret recipe!
Well, of course, we’re not gonna spell out exactly how we perfected our Korean chicken recipe. However, a lot about South Korean fried chicken is not a secret. Depending on taste preferences, you’re going to want to season and marinate your chicken, smother it in a mix of flour, and double fry to get that extra crispiness while keeping the inside moist and tender.
In South Korea, you will find dozens of restaurants offering variations of Korean fried chicken, selling everything from bone-in, bone-out, white meat, and dark meat, accompanied by plenty of sauce and seasonings to please every pallet.
Our homemade Korean recipe started in Gumi, South Korea, where my mother stays in the kitchen for 5-6 hours a day. She helped us develop a true to Korea authentic taste that could be cooked in America, with all ingredients procured locally in Pennsylvania.
The best way to answer this question is to say it was done due to the perfect mix of love of culture and love of food. That is what first motivated us to open a Korean fried chicken restaurant in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs.
We wanted to bring some of the culture and cuisine of South Korea to the States in a new and exciting way for people to enjoy quick and easy takeaway chicken.
And while the business model is mostly focused on a catering/takeaway model currently, our long-term goal is to open a beer & chicken version of our restaurant that focuses on sporting events and all-around good times to be had by everyone.
We’re still in the process of looking for our keystone location and forever home in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where we reside. However, please keep an eye on our Instagram account for notifications about “pop-ups” coming to an establishment near you.
Our very first pop-up will be a collaboration with Pizza Jawn in Manayunk on September 11th. Here we opened for a four-hour window and offered a slotted reserve system where you can choose in advance the time you’d like to pick up your Soko Bag.
If you’re throwing a private party, event, or even wedding in the Philadelphia and suburban area and looking for a fun addition to your late-night food menu, we’d love the consideration. With a little luck, if you googled “Korean fried chicken near me”, our blog popped up!
Feel free to drop us an email at , and we’ll see if we can’t create something amazing together. We’re open to all collaborations, big and small, so we hope to hear from you soon!
Check out our brand new Soko Bag menu above! We’re sure you will find plenty of Korean food options that’ll satisfy any hunger craving! And if you are new here, make sure to check out our home page to learn more!
