A chef who was sent off lonely after just 18 seconds on Netflix's Culinary Class Wars returned as the protagonist of a reversal. "I will make my parents rich no matter what," the tearful determination that led 28-year-old Min Yohan, the representative of the "side dish shop legend," who built annual sales of 27 billion won, to reveal his success story.
On the 15th at 9:55 p.m., EBS Seo Jang-hoon's Millionaire Next Door aired the episode featuring young CEO Min Yohan, who at age 28 became the youngest millionaire, claiming the title of "youngest millionaire" among all past guests.
Although Min Yohan has become a great merchant overseeing 57 side dish stores nationwide, his start was extremely poor. A single cramped room in the small hambap restaurant his parents ran was all of his childhood. To support their son, who started cooking as playground in the kitchen from second grade, his parents, despite limited means, cashed in insurance and savings to open the path for him to study at the CIA, one of the world's top three culinary schools in the United States. However, he had to return home midway through his sophomore year because he could not overcome the crushing tuition costs.
Returning to Korea with a heart on the brink, Min Yohan opened a side dish shop in the market with 150 million won, which included the deposit for monthly rent plus additional debt. Recalling the desperate time when he said, "If I failed, everything would be over," contrary to his worries, the shop was an immediate huge hit. Standardizing his mother's innate taste into precise "measured recipes," and differentiating with unusual menu items like pasta, mapo tofu and salads and a sophisticated bakery-style interior—rare in market side dish shops—proved to be the right strategy.
Min Yohan revealed, "Two hours of sales covered a month's rent. The whole family counted cash all night," and MC Seo Jang-hoon, hearing this, said, "As the years of hardship passed before my eyes, the family must have cried a lot while counting the money," expressing deep sympathy and touching emotion. Ultimately, within less than a year after starting the business, he paid off 100 million won of debt, completing a great turnaround.
He also stood out as a successful young head of household. As soon as he made money, he bought his hard-working father a car and handed his parents personal cards, and he now covers all living expenses, including the maintenance fees and food costs for the family's first APT. The burden of responsibility at a young age could have been heavy, but Min Yohan said, "Seeing my parents, who spent their lives worrying about money, live comfortably is my greatest happiness," smiling with filial devotion.
Also revealed were entertaining behind-the-scenes stories, from the time he participated in season 1 of Culinary Class Wars and was eliminated after judge Paik Jong-won quipped, "The rice is soggy~," to the unusual resume that since 2021 had him working in perfect tandem with Hwang Kwanghee on Best Cooking Secrets, providing a surprise twist.
Even after achieving success, Min Yohan continues to share warmth by regularly donating side dishes and volunteering for kimchi-making for isolated elderly and marginalized neighbors. He expressed a sincere ambition: "I want to be a person who warms the world with the warmth of one meal."
[Photo] EBS Seo Jang-hoon's Millionaire Next Door
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