---
title: "Nation's Restaurant News: Kona Grill to Start Franchising in U.S. and China"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/c4fbc390-2ddf-4646-8544-03024bf5a3a6
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-kona-grill-to-start-franchising-in-us-and-china-2706521
category: "Casual dining"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Casual dining"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2018-05-11T22:17:27.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T04:08:48.979Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/f95fd10c3e09ed052b692bacead574ea6330.jpg
---

# Nation's Restaurant News: Kona Grill to Start Franchising in U.S. and China

**TL;DR:** Kona Grill will begin offering a franchise program in the US and China, expanding the brand through company-owned and franchised restaurants. The brand has brought on Alex Zheng, chairman of the Chinese Plateno Hotel Group, to help navigate its plans to franchise in China.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2018-05-11. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-kona-grill-to-start-franchising-in-us-and-china-2706521).*

## Story

Entrepreneurs looking into franchise opportunities will now have a new brand to consider. According to a recent article in Nation's Restaurant News, Kona Grill will begin to offer a franchise program both domestically and internationally. A time frame for the openings has not yet been released.

“Similar to many other restaurant companies, we intend to utilize a dual strategy of both company-owned and franchised restaurants, which allows for the expansion of the brand in more markets throughout the United States," said CEO Berke Bakay.

Kona Grill has brought on the chairman of the Chinese Plateno Hotel Group to help it navigate plans to franchise across China. Alex Zheng will serve on the board of directors for the brand as it embarks on this venture.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Restaurants (sector)
- unit expansion (topic)
- franchising (topic)
- international expansion (topic)
- United States (location)
- China (location)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/nations-restaurant-news-kona-grill-to-start-franchising-in-us-and-china-2706521). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/c4fbc390-2ddf-4646-8544-03024bf5a3a6).