SINGAPORE – The names Initia Group and Cantera Collective might not be familiar to diners. Yet, these two restaurant groups are behind some of the city’s most successful establishments.

Initia Group’s Korean restaurants, including Drim and Modu Samgyetang, are constantly full. Cantera Collective, the new name for AC Concepts, runs well-regarded establishments such as Kulto and Il Toro. It recently opened Casa Mori, a tie-up with Mod-Sin pioneer Willin Low.

In a city awash with new restaurants, they have built loyal followings. How do they do it?

Initia Group: Cornering the K-restaurant market

The number of turns made by Initia Group’s restaurants would make any restaurant operator’s head spin.

For instance, upscale Korean steakhouse Drim at Mandarin Gallery does four turns on weekdays and five on weekends. That means every one of its 90 seats is occupied by four or five diners each day.

Over at Korean ginseng chicken soup restaurant Modu on the same floor of the mall, the turns are even higher. The 40-seat restaurant, open all day, does seven to eight daily turns. Charcoal chicken restaurant, Song Gye Ok in Telok Ayer Street, is also packed.

The group, with 16 restaurants in Singapore and two in Malaysia, is projecting a revenue of $120 million in 2026.

Diners flock to restaurants that the gr...