Ramen chain Yoshiharu Global Co. removed Founder James Chae as co-chief executive and named Ji-Won Kim as the company’s sole CEO, according to an SEC filing on June 12.
Brea-based Yoshiharu also replaced Chief Financial Officer Ryan Cho with John Oh. The moves were effective June 10 (Nasdaq: YOSH).
Kim was most recently the CEO of restaurant brand Macho Galbi since April 2016. New CFO Oh previously worked as a certified public accountant at JH Professional Corp and counts 20 years of experience in tax planning, financial reporting, and regulatory compliance.
Shares were down 1.6% to $13.38 during midday trading and a $24 million market cap.
Yoshiharu, which went public in 2022, cited no reason for the new appointments. It will also be closing all restaurant locations for approximately three days, starting June 13, “as the new management team conducts a review of store operations, performs an internal audit, and updates the company’s accounting systems.”
The changes come after a troubled year for the company. Yoshiharu was on the verge of being delisted due to trouble with auditing and filing its financials, and regained compliance with Nasdaq in April this year.
The restaurant chain recently reported first quarter revenue jumped 25% to $3.5 million compared to a year ago.
