When DePalma’s Italian Café owner Dave Cappi and his partners first started to talk about franchising, the original idea was to expand into cities that weren’t far removed from Athens.
“Our original intention was to sell a franchise within two hours of Athens,†said Cappi. “We were thinking Savannah, Macon, Augusta. Those were the cities we had in mind, not Seoul, Korea.â€
But Seoul, Korea, it is for Cappi and his six partners, who earlier this month announced a unique arrangement to open two DePalma’s franchises in South Korea’s capital and largest city. The DePalma’s team completed the deal with Kwansik Lee, CEO of Olympic Coliseum Ltd., on Valentine’s Day while Lee was in Athens visiting his daughter, a University of Georgia student.