Weekend Pop-Up That Began As A Joke Is Now Poised To Bring In $2 Million This Year

What started as a tongue-in-cheek side project has rapidly grown into a serious business: Softies Burger, launched by Josh Kim and Sam Hong, is projecting roughly $2 million in revenue for the year as it moves from occasional pop-ups to a more permanent presence in Southern California.

Kim and Hong, both veterans of the restaurant technology and coffee-shop worlds, originally treated the venture as a low-stakes experiment. Armed with a pair of griddles bought on a credit card, they expected to flip a few dozen burgers at their first event. Instead, strangers formed a line and the team sold 300 burgers in about three hours, leaving them overwhelmed and convinced the night had been an anomaly. They responded by pacing themselves—opening sporadically to test demand rather than rushing into a full restaurant.

Their openness about the messy process became part of the appeal. The founders chronicled setbacks and long nights on social platforms: delayed permits, construction headaches, staffing strain and the emotional toll of an unpredictable launch. That unvarnished storytelling turned customers into followers, and followers into regulars. Softies’ visibility at markets like Smorgasburg helped the operation graduate from a novelty to a dependable draw.

Now, as the duo seeks to expand, they’re confronting the practical challenges of scaling: longer lead times on build-outs, larger payrolls and the danger of drifting from the original concept that sparked interest. A restaurant consultant contacted for this story said small food brands that trade on authenticity can grow faster than traditional marketing would allow, but warned that rapid expansion often dilutes the very elements that set a brand apart.

Financially, the trajectory is clear. Revenue sources now range from weekend market sales to planned fixed locations and merchandising, and projections put the enterprise near the $2 million mark by year’s end. For the founders, the lesson so far has been simple: growth is welcome, but maintaining the voice that drew people in is nonnegotiable.

Kim and Hong say they intend to scale carefully, keeping the menu tight and the customer experience familiar. They still view the business as a labor of love more than a corporate pivot, even as it becomes a full-time concern. And they’re cautious—wiser, they hope—about preserving what made the project charming to begin with.