Sweet Sauce, Sweeter Generosity: Founder of 'Mexican Chicken' Chooses Industry Growth Over Patents
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
Yun Jong-gye, founder of Daegu’s popular chain Macxican Chicken (not from Mexico), pioneered Korea’s signature yangnyeom chicken in 1985 by solving a key problem: how to make fried chicken still tasty after it cooled. After months of experimentation and a local grandmother’s tip to add malt syrup (mulyeot), he developed a sticky, sweet-and-spicy sauce that clings to the chicken. When a former employee tried to register the sauce patent in his own name, Yun could have reclaimed and enforced the patent legally, but he forgave the mistake and chose not to monopolize the recipe. That decision allowed countless Korean chicken shops and varied yangnyeom brands to flourish, helping make K-chicken a part of K-food worldwide. Yun is also credited with inventing chicken-moo (pickled radish served with chicken). He died at 74; his legacy is a craft spirit that favored sharing over exclusivity and attention to small customer needs.
