BHC Chicken has submitted documents to the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health and Quality for a new restaurant at 133 N. Twin Oaks Valley Road, Suite 100. The restaurant will replace a former Subway within Civic Center Plaza, near the intersection of North Twin Oaks Valley Road and San Marcos Boulevard and a short distance from Cal State San Marcos.
The San Marcos restaurant represents another significant step in BHC Chicken's expansion across North County. When SanDiegoVille first reported on the company's arrival in 2024, BHC had only recently entered the American market and was preparing its first San Diego restaurant in Sorrento Valley. That restaurant opened in May 2024 at 9450 Scranton Road inside The Mercato food hall, becoming only the company's second U.S. location at the time.
BHC's American expansion has accelerated considerably since then. Later in 2024, SanDiegoVille reported that local franchisee John Baik was preparing another BHC Chicken inside the former Subway at 11983 Bernardo Plaza Drive in Rancho Bernardo, with a Carlsbad restaurant also in development. Both have since opened.
BHC Chicken's own website now lists operating San Diego County restaurants in Sorrento Valley, Rancho Bernardo and at 2540 El Camino Real in Carlsbad. The San Marcos location would give the chain four restaurants stretching from San Diego's biotech corridor into inland and coastal North County. The expansion is part of a much larger international push for a restaurant company that describes itself as Korea's No. 1 chicken franchise brand.
BHC traces its history to South Korea and has grown into an enormous fried-chicken operation. Its global parent says the company surpassed 2,000 Korean locations in 2022 and began its American expansion with a restaurant at Los Angeles' Original Farmers Market in February 2023. BHC subsequently entered San Diego in 2024 and has continued adding U.S. markets.
Its current American restaurant roster includes locations around Los Angeles and San Diego as well as Northern California, New Jersey, Georgia, Virginia and Irvine. BHC says it is actively pursuing additional franchise growth across the country.
The centerpiece remains Korean fried chicken, distinguished from traditional American versions by an exceptionally crisp exterior and a broad collection of sauces and dry seasonings. Among BHC's best-known creations is Bburinkle, crispy fried chicken covered with the company's signature Korean cheese seasoning. The unusual flavor became an enormous hit in Korea, and BHC says worldwide sales of Bburinkle surpassed 100 million in 2024.
Other options include Sweet & Spicy chicken coated in a Korean-style sauce; Gold-King, combining soy sauce, honey and garlic; fiery Red-King with chili peppers and garlic; Matcho-King made with aged soy sauce; and traditional Classic fried chicken. The menu extends well beyond chicken. BHC's American restaurants serve Korean comfort foods including tteokbokki, rose tteokbokki, rabokki and kimchi fried rice, along with cheese balls, seasoned fries and fried chicken sandwiches.
BHC Chicken is planning to open at 133 N. Twin Oaks Valley Road, Suite 100, in San Marcos' Civic Center Plaza. For more information, visit bhcchickenusa.com.
Originally published August 21, 2026. Information regarding the San Marcos development first reported by Joey Reams of What Now.
