If you like interesting spaces or have heard of YND 239-20—the cartoon café that went viral last year, there’s now a bigger and arguably nicer second location that’s worth visiting.
Named YND 223-14 after the Korean address Yeon-Nam-Dong 223-14, this brand-new coffee spot is only a three-minute walk away from the original.
Jointly owned by the company Greem, the cafés share a unique design concept created by founder and owner Eun-Jin Lee. Decked out like pen-drawn cartoons, these cafés blend reality and illusion together seamlessly—with white interiors creating a stark contrast with real and faux elements outlined in black, such as real tables, chairs, and mugs, plus illustrations of potted plants, tufted leather, flowers, art frames, wooden tiles, and a window with a peeking dog.
Given the fun-filled design and delightful use of optical illusion, it’s no wonder why the original café has quickly become “a must-visit for decor-loving Instagrammers,” noted CNN.
However, it soon became evident that the roughly 430-square foot café could no longer meet popular demand. With only two tables for a maximum of eight people at a time, food items such as cakes and sandwiches had to be discontinued to avoid the excessively long wait.
This is why Lee went on to open YND 223-14. Now, with the main seating area three times the size of the original café, plus a charming rooftop featuring landscape view of the neighborhood and illustrations of clothes hanging on a clothesline, YND 223-14 is altogether six times larger than its predecessor.
According to Marketing Manager Jeong-Sang Lee, not only are guests reportedly much happier about the shorter waiting time, they can now pair their coffees and lattes with chocolate cookie muffin, Dacquoise with cream cheese, and strawberry cake.
When it comes to the budding success of these two cartoon cafés, many would naturally attribute to their “instagrammability.” However, that was never part of the owner’s consideration.
To Eun-Jin Lee, creating these black-and-white cartoon effect isn’t so much about generating more “likes,” but about removing the distraction of colors and noise from the space.
Wanting to put the focus back to the things that matter—people and popular drinks such as chocolate and green tea lattes—Eun-Jin chose to make the remaining elements as “simple and colorless” as possible.
This minimal philosophy extends to Greem’s marketing strategy, as the cafés rely on word-of-mouth recommendations as opposed to advertisements or partnerships with famous bloggers, Facebook stars or the media.
Lastly, don’t worry if you’re not visiting Seoul anytime soon. The owner welcomes franchise ideas and looks forward to expanding to other locations around the world.
As of press date, Anma Saudi Holding has already signed on to become a distributor in Saudi Arabia and UAE, with the possibility for expansion in Europe (starting with London) depending on performance. In addition, Greem is communicating with companies in the US, Philippines, Malaysia and Tunisia about potential collaborations.
