Management Team

Mr. Chae founded Yoshiharu in 2016. Led by Mr. Chae, Yoshiharu has expanded to become a leading Japanese cuisine restaurant chain in Southern California. The root of Mr. Chae’s business knowledge comes from over two decades leading a wide array of industries including both the financial services and retail services segments. Mr. Chae has been a business executive for over 10 years, serving as the President of APIIS Financial, Inc., a financial planning and wealth management firm. Prior to APIIS Financial, Inc., Mr. Chae served as the Managing Site Partner for John Hancock from January 2002 to October 2010.

Mr. Chae immigrated from South Korea to the United States as a teenager, and diligently worked to enroll at UCLA where he studied Economics. Prior to graduation, Mr. Chae began his career at California Korea Bank, one of the first banks to service Koreans living in the United States. Mr. Chae rose to the position of Loan Adjuster before venturing out on his own as an entrepreneur. While starting his own businesses, Mr. Chae often found comfort in a warm bowl of ramen to uplift him and energize his spirit, which served as the inspiration for Yoshiharu. Mr. Chae’s background in the financial services industry provided him access to restaurants and retailers which helped him understand the restaurant industry and more importantly, the necessary foundations in building a successful restaurant business. Mr. Chae believed that there was a large addressable market for ramen, and together with his experience and passion for the business, founded Yoshiharu.

Mr. Cho has over 25 years of public accounting and industry experience with U.S. and global companies. Mr. Cho specializes in audits for both private and public companies, SEC reporting and due diligence transactions, including post-merger integration services. He is also a partner at S&R Accounting Professionals, LLP, a full-service accounting consulting firm based in Anaheim, California.

Prior to joining S&R, Mr. Cho served as the Director of Finance for Ticket Monster, a subsidiary of Groupon, where he successfully led and completed multiple M&A projects, worked closely with external auditors PwC and E&Y, and led a team of over 40 accounting and finance team members. Mr. Cho also served as an audit senior manager for KPMG’s Los Angeles based practice for nine years, as well as a Chief Financial Officer for Prudential Investment & Securities Co., LTD.

Ryan Cho holds an MBA from the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign. Mr. Cho is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California.