Damso-story, a Gangnam, Seoul-based franchisor of Korean sausage “soondae” soup, offers the popular dish with a modern twist.

It attempts to break the stereotype of the dish ― strong pork smell, low quality and the usual drab interior of soondae dining places. Soondae is steamed pig intestine stuffed with a mixture of sticky rice, bean sprouts, cabbage or other vegetables seasoned with garlic, ginger, sesame oil and fermented bean paste.

Damso-story specializes in soondae soup. For broth, it uses top quality cow leg bones and meat.

It is the nation’s only patented soondae soup brand, which uses beef leg bone broth unlike existing soondae soup. For better quality, its restaurants add purified water and environmentally friendly rice.

Damso-story’s soondae soup comes at a cheap price. A bowl of soup is just 5,900 won, cheaper than the average price of soondae soups of 7,000 won.

The restaurant, started in the small alley of Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, has grown into a mega franchise restaurant in three and a half years. It now runs 22 franchises across the country. Damso-story provides friendly and comfortable dining space, designed by the architecture-majored CEO who pictured the place for “damso,” a Korean word for a pleasant talk.

“We are striving to live happily together with our franchisees rather than maximize our profits,” Oh Eung-seok, chief executive of Damso-story, said.

One of franchise owners Seo Dong-il said the restaurant is popular among young people so that he plans to open more Damso-story restaurants in Seoul.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)