people
SUCCESS STORY:
JASON YOO
I was working in my office in the
International Trade Center when
Mr. Jason Yoo entered the door. After only a few moments of speaking
with him it became obvious that Mr.
Yoo is a very intelligent man. He is a
big thinker with a plan and a mission;
unafraid of risks, and always thinking
about his next big step.
As the president and CEO of JDDA
Group, Mr. Yoo is no stranger to
Houston, hard work, and hot temperatures — and the day of our interview temperatures in Houston were
hot. Mr.Yoo’s disciplined work ethic
began to pay off when he started a
part-time janitorial business while
simultaneously working a full time
position at a Grocer’s Supply; in fact,
it’s likely you have unwittingly experienced Mr.Yoo’s work. That’s right!
Anyone who has been to either of
Houston’s major airports has benefitted from his work. Yes, that humble
part-time janitorial business he started 35 years ago grew to serve both of
Houston’s major airports. Not only
that, but it also grew into such a successful business that they expanded
to South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and New Mexico.
he would do next when a different
type of business prospect arose about
11 years ago. He became aware of an
opportunity to purchase the concession management company that was
serving both airports in Houston.
“Concession Management means
that when you go to the airport and
you buy a sandwich, all those restaurants are being managed by a company.” He explains that he made a
calculated risk and paid a tremendous
amount of money for a business that
only had two years left on a contract
with the city.
Mr.Yoo worked diligently to gain the
support of Mayor Bill White and city
council members and successfully
won the concession management bid
for almost 10 years. He informed
me that as of this year he is no longer involved in concession management. He is now an operator of two
of the restaurants at Bush Intercontinental Airport and several more are
in the process of being built. “We
have Asian Bistro which serves sushi
and Asian meals in Terminal E. We
opened Panda Express in Terminal A.
Under construction now are ChickFil-A, Jason’s Deli and Which Wich
in terminals A and B which will open
Some of their clients included Dow in a couple of months.” He laughs as
Chemical, Valero, and DFW Airport. he tells me that five restaurants are
It grew from a part-time business definitely not enough and that he
to a company that employed 1,400 wants to rapidly acquire five more. I
employees. It was named as one of have a feeling that was no joke and
Houston’s top 25 minority-owned Mr. Yoo definitely has the business
businesses. After much deliberation, acumen and expertise to pull it off.
he sold his 35 year-old janitorial
business to a Minnesota-based com- While still running his janitorial serpany.
vice and concession management
company, he decided to create a
Jason Yoo was thinking about what construction business. His company
46 iF Magazine | OCTOBER 2016
was hired to renovate the new wing
of the MD Anderson Library at the
University of Houston and the John
B. Coleman Library at Prairie View
A&M. They have also been responsible for countless renovations on restaurants such as The Palm in Houston. The construction business at
JDDA Group went on to successfully
build many buildings and shopping
centers in Houston. Did I mention
Mr.Yoo is industrious?
I’m always interested to know people’s background and their “American Story”. Mr. Yoo came to the
United States from the Republic
of Korea as an exchange student in
1974 studying in Columbia, Missouri. Prior to that he studied Public
Administration in Seoul at Myong-Ji
University. He shared with me that
in 1975 he attended a local community church in Missouri where he
was baptized and became active in
his Christian faith.
In 1976 he moved to Houston and
met his wife in San Antonio with the
assistance of a matchmaker. This is an
interesting custom among Koreans
and most non-Koreans are unaware
of this practice.