Tzuyang denies rumors of business failure after closing restaurants

Tzuyang, a mukbang YouTuber with 10 million subscribers, has revealed the reasoning behind her decision to close most of the snack bars and tonkatsu specialty restaurants she previously operated. Contrary to rumors that the closures were due to poor sales, she explained that she reached her limit in balancing her YouTube career with business management.

In a video titled "You thought I failed..? The reason I closed all my stores.. Visiting Jeongwon Bunsik for a surprise inspection," uploaded to her YouTube channel on the 9th, Tzuyang visited her remaining Jeongwon Bunsik location in Siheung, Gyeonggi-do.

Tzuyang entered the food service industry by operating snack bars and tonkatsu restaurants under her own name, but she closed most of her locations in 2024. Currently, she continues to operate only one location in Siheung.

In the video, she noted that many commenters had expressed curiosity about why her stores disappeared, leading to various speculations.

"Since I was running both my broadcasts and the stores, I felt like I couldn't pay enough attention to the shops," she explained. "I was very worried, and since I want to try doing it properly again when I have the leisure in the future, I decided to put them aside for a while."

Tzuyang emphasized that the decision was a matter of "selection and focus" rather than a result of business failure or deficits.

She also admitted that managing the business helped her realize new things about her own personality.

"Some people are good at multitasking, but I am not," Tzuyang recalled. "When I first opened the store, I would stay at the shop from morning until night and then move to filming, but I couldn't focus on filming at all."

She stated that the situation also impacted the quality of her mukbang content.

"Because I kept worrying about the store work, I couldn't eat as well as I used to. I couldn't even upload videos properly, and in that process, I fought a lot with my PD," she said candidly.

While she attempted to delegate tasks, she was unable to achieve satisfactory results.

Tzuyang revealed, "At first, I went to the store about half the time, and later I operated by visiting only occasionally once things settled down. However, as time passed, I kept thinking, 'I'm not paying enough attention.'"

She also addressed the most common suspicion: that she closed the stores because they were failing.

She explained that there were no major issues with the operations themselves; the decision was driven by management concerns rather than profitability. Feeling a sense of responsibility toward her brand, she decided it was best to step away until she could invest sufficient time into the business again.

Tzuyang remains one of Korea's leading mukbang creators with 10 million subscribers.

Last year, she was involved in a legal battle after being targeted by threats and extortion. The YouTuber Gu Jeyuk (real name Lee Jun-hee), who was indicted for threatening and extorting money from Tzuyang, was recently sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 10,000,000 won in an appeals court. This was a reduced sentence from the initial trial, which had imposed two years in prison and a 15,000,000 won fine.

Additionally, the court ordered the lawyer involved in the case to pay a total of 73,100,000 won in restitution, including the extorted funds, damages, and alimony.

Through this video, Tzuyang clarified that her withdrawal from the food service industry was a "selective reorganization" rather than a permanent closure, leaving the door open for a future return to the business when conditions allow.