The restaurant plans to hire 20 to 30 North Koreans to take telephone orders, fry chicken and hop on scooters to make home deliveries, Choi said. The business would also serve walk-in takeout customers.
The chicken will come from North Korea with an assist by the South while other materials, such as wrapping paper, will be delivered from the South.
Choi, who has invested $551,000 in the restaurant and delivery scooters, will split the profits 70-30 with the North Korean partner.
Choi, who visited North Korea at least six times for the project, expressed confidence that there would be sufficient demand in the North, one of the world's poorest countries, saying he would offer lower prices to locals.
"One chicken will be enough for a four-member family, so the price of $3 will not be too burdensome for special occasions," he said. "I think we could sell 1,000 units a day and have 20 outlets in Pyongyang," he added. The average monthly income of a North Korean labor is about $1.
North Korea has suffered from chronic food shortages and relies on international food aid to feed its population. However, the increasingly wealthy elite in Pyongyang have created a market for luxury products. Some wealthy individuals in Pyongyang run illicit karaoke clubs and computer cafes.
"The number of wealthy people has risen in the North since its 2002 reform measures, while more and more people are suffering from deepening poverty, highlighting a deepening disparity in the country," said Yang Moon-Soo, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
The outlet could be supplied with chickens from an inter-Korean joint farm to be built in Kaesong, south of Pyongyang, early next year.
The Maniker Co., South Korea's second-largest chicken processing company, said on Nov. 6 that it plans to start building a chicken farm in North Korea later this year as part of its efforts to produce chickens using the North's cheap labor.
