By: Nadia K. Mulji MBA '21

Jimmy Kim (Duke ‘04 and Fuqua ‘12) is the successful owner of Durham’s Cucciolo Osteria, a full-service restaurant in downtown Durham, serving modern Italian cuisine, cocktails, and wine​. Cucciolo is a sister restaurant to the original opened by Jimmy’s cousin, Julian Kim, in Seoul, Korea. The two cousins continue to share menu ideas and aim to serve guests simple, high quality dishes in a welcoming environment – both in Durham and Seoul.

In the past few years, the food scene in downtown Durham has grown tremendously. Complete with award-winning restaurants, breweries, and cocktail bars, downtown Durham has been put on the map by bold entrepreneurs like Jimmy. Since opening Cucciolo in 2018, Jimmy has received rave reviews including Greg Cox, the food critic for the Raleigh News & Observer declaring, “Best Italian, not only in Durham but in the entire Triangle.” With Durham residents and visitors alike celebrating Cucciolo’s delicious fare, Jimmy decided it was time to open a second restaurant location. But where?

Jimmy turned to the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) to help answer this question. FCCP provides students with hand-on consulting experience by pairing teams with client organizations to assist in addressing existing and emerging challenges. Jimmy – having participated in the program while at Fuqua – knew FCCP would be up for the challenge of determining which location would be best for Cucciolo’s expansion. The team was comprised of five MBA students, all armed with either professional backgrounds or personal passions for food. The match, some might say, was as perfect a pairing as Cucciolo’s prosciutto di San Daniele served with mozzarella mousse and gnoccho fritti.

Jimmy had narrowed down the options for potential locations to Charlotte and Raleigh. With this in mind, the team set out with the following objective: recommend a neighborhood for Cucciolo’s second location. The team identified weighted criteria (e.g., demographics, competition, financial analysis) and developed a scorecard to present their recommendation. The findings and the team’s final recommendation surprised Jimmy.

“I expected them to recommend Charlotte. Not only did they recommend Raleigh, but they also recommended a neighborhood within Raleigh -- North Hills -- that was not entirely on my radar, and I’m glad they did.”

“The experience came full circle when a few of us dined at Cucciolo this summer and Jimmy shared plans for his newly-leased space in North Hills.” – Tanya Panicker, FCCP Team Member

Patrons can expect to dine (or takeout) at the second location around late July or early September 2021. Until then, Cucciolo in Durham is open and ready for business!

About FCCP

The FCCP represents an integration of the Fuqua School of Business’ consulting practicum courses, which have provided advisory services for over twenty-five years with more than 400 companies participating in the various courses. If you know of an organization that would benefit from participating in FCCP, contact us!

By: Nadia K. Mulji MBA '21

Jimmy Kim (Duke ‘04 and Fuqua ‘12) is the successful owner of Durham’s Cucciolo Osteria, a full-service restaurant in downtown Durham, serving modern Italian cuisine, cocktails, and wine​. Cucciolo is a sister restaurant to the original opened by Jimmy’s cousin, Julian Kim, in Seoul, Korea. The two cousins continue to share menu ideas and aim to serve guests simple, high quality dishes in a welcoming environment – both in Durham and Seoul.

In the past few years, the food scene in downtown Durham has grown tremendously. Complete with award-winning restaurants, breweries, and cocktail bars, downtown Durham has been put on the map by bold entrepreneurs like Jimmy. Since opening Cucciolo in 2018, Jimmy has received rave reviews including Greg Cox, the food critic for the Raleigh News & Observer declaring, “Best Italian, not only in Durham but in the entire Triangle.” With Durham residents and visitors alike celebrating Cucciolo’s delicious fare, Jimmy decided it was time to open a second restaurant location. But where?

Jimmy turned to the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) to help answer this question. FCCP provides students with hand-on consulting experience by pairing teams with client organizations to assist in addressing existing and emerging challenges. Jimmy – having participated in the program while at Fuqua – knew FCCP would be up for the challenge of determining which location would be best for Cucciolo’s expansion. The team was comprised of five MBA students, all armed with either professional backgrounds or personal passions for food. The match, some might say, was as perfect a pairing as Cucciolo’s prosciutto di San Daniele served with mozzarella mousse and gnoccho fritti.

Jimmy had narrowed down the options for potential locations to Charlotte and Raleigh. With this in mind, the team set out with the following objective: recommend a neighborhood for Cucciolo’s second location. The team identified weighted criteria (e.g., demographics, competition, financial analysis) and developed a scorecard to present their recommendation. The findings and the team’s final recommendation surprised Jimmy.

“I expected them to recommend Charlotte. Not only did they recommend Raleigh, but they also recommended a neighborhood within Raleigh -- North Hills -- that was not entirely on my radar, and I’m glad they did.”

“The experience came full circle when a few of us dined at Cucciolo this summer and Jimmy shared plans for his newly-leased space in North Hills.” – Tanya Panicker, FCCP Team Member

Patrons can expect to dine (or takeout) at the second location around late July or early September 2021. Until then, Cucciolo in Durham is open and ready for business!

About FCCP

The FCCP represents an integration of the Fuqua School of Business’ consulting practicum courses, which have provided advisory services for over twenty-five years with more than 400 companies participating in the various courses. If you know of an organization that would benefit from participating in FCCP, contact us!