Soohyun Kwon COO

From a Single Pot in an Office Corner to a System Powering 1,400 Stores

“It's not because of some grand vision. I just find it genuinely fun to watch problems that didn't work yesterday get solved, one by one. That's probably what's kept me here.”

Q. Could you introduce yourself?

Hi, I'm Soohyun Kwon, COO of Li.fizz. My career started in food styling and food R&D. I hold a master's degree in hospitality management from Kyung Hee University, and I've worked across nearly every stage of F&B operations — from the kitchen to food safety and beverage programs.

At Li.fizz, I oversee operations as a whole. Beyond developing recipes that taste good, my focus is on building the systems that let those recipes deliver the same quality across about 1,400 stores. Every menu — from early design through mass production to in-store rollout — passes through my hands and lands as part of the actual operating structure on the ground.

Since I've been building this organization from the very early days, I tend to know the context and the small details of how we got to the structure we have today — the missteps, the pivots, all of it. (laughs) So whenever someone on the team asks, "Why did we do it that way?" — the eyes usually turn to me.

Q. I'd love to hear what brought you to Li.fizz.

Ever since I was young, I had this vague wish to do my own work. My first dream was to become a chef. I loved when people enjoyed the food I made, and I loved the warm gatherings that formed around that food. As I grew older, I moved into F&B planning — but within the existing F&B industry, the range of what I could try started to feel limited.

I first met Jeongsu, our CEO, at a business student society when we were 20. Honestly, at first I thought he was the opposite of me. I'm the type who stubbornly holds on to something until the end, while Jeongsu is the type who cleverly finds his way through. But that's exactly why I thought — if two people this different went together, we might actually pull something off. Around that time, Jeongsu said, "Let's do this together."

I saw that here, I could work with the F&B world I loved — but on a much bigger scale. The space where F&B meets technology, where a whole new way of operating could emerge — that felt like a real opportunity. That's how I joined Li.fizz. And here we are, still together.

Q. What do you do as COO?

We're still close to an early-stage organization, so I work across many areas without strict role boundaries. If I had to put it in one word, I'd say I'm the glue of the team.

I translate the direction our CEO sets into something the operations side can actually execute. I prepare materials and products so the sales team can sell better. I sit between the engineering team and the field, gathering feedback on how our robots are actually running in stores. And I make a point of archiving the decisions that happen at Li.fizz — I don't let the moments pass. How we got here, which decisions led to which outcomes — without that record, a company can grow fast but the roots stay shallow.

Q. Is there a memorable story you'd like to share?

It was when we were preparing our first B2B launch. We were trying to find a factory to make our highball base, but no one would take our order — the minimum order quantity didn't line up. The bigger factories said our volume was too small. The smaller ones couldn't handle our recipe.

So we walled off a small corner of our office and got it certified, under our own name, as a food processing facility. During the day, we ran the office and developed the product. At night, we stood at the stove — cooking, by hand, the volume we needed for our early stores and the samples we'd carry into the next day's sales meetings. That's how Li.fizz began.

There was a night when our early production partner couldn't meet the deadline for a first delivery to a key client. So I went out to the factory with Jeongsu, our CEO, and Kyungpyo, our CTO, and the three of us spent the night filling bottles, sealing them, and putting on labels — one by one. I think it's because of nights like those that Li.fizz is where it is today.

Q. I'm curious what keeps you working at Li.fizz.

Honestly, I don't really know. (laughs) When people ask me, "Why do you work this hard?" — I can't quite answer.

I just don't get tired. To say I never get tired would be a lie, but even when I rest, I find myself wanting to get back to work. The time I spend at Li.fizz doesn't get old. There's always another interesting thing, another thing I want to do, another thing that needs to be done.

It's not because of some grand vision. I just find it genuinely fun to watch problems that didn't work yesterday get solved, one by one. That's probably what's kept me going. By now, I've come to have one quiet goal — I want to see how far this can go. I want to stay until we've put the final period on it.

Q. What's the biggest difference between working at Li.fizz and other companies?

The people here don't just say "it can't be done."

At Li.fizz, "how do we make it work?" comes before "why doesn't it work?" When we couldn't find a factory for our base, the conversation didn't become "let's delay the launch" — it became "let's cook it ourselves." We don't stop at discussion. We move, and we find answers in the moving.

Q. Who is the most 'Li.fizz-like' person to you?

The answer differs slightly depending on whether I'm thinking about my operations team or about Li.fizz as a whole. Let me split it.

For the operations team — the most Li.fizz-like trait is picking up on someone else's discomfort as if it were your own. When a store owner mutters, "this is a bit inconvenient…", the kind of person who doesn't let it pass — who follows up with "why is it inconvenient? how do we fix it?" Operations is, in the end, the work of seeing the details no one else is watching.

Zooming out to Li.fizz as a whole, two qualities stand out.

First, people who can pick out priorities. A startup has an endless flood of things to do, and you need the eye to identify which one matters most, right now.

Second, people who can articulate their thinking clearly. We don't make decisions based on "I just have a feeling about this." We tend to have people who can explain why, in their own words, plainly and persuasively.

And one small wish — I hope we meet people with the warmth to recognize what each other needs. A good team, I think, comes from a relationship where people quickly understand and respect each other's roles. I hope someone who can build that kind of relationship will join us.

Honestly, I can't promise anything grand. But here's one thing I can: the time you spend at Li.fizz will be the kind of time you look back on and say, "I really lived those years." If you want to build that kind of time with us — don't hesitate. Come apply.