To every meeting, a parting follows. Beloved by many KAIST students over the years, Serengeti, the cocktail bar positioned at Eoeun-dong, is met with a wave of change. The former owner of Serengeti, Dae-jung Kim, officially retired this June, leaving his well-aged cocktail bar to its new owner. Two months after taking over the pub, Carlos Woo greeted me with a free glass of highball.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us how you ended up in Serengeti?

Hello, I am Carlos Woo, currently running the Serengeti pub. I am also running CrossFit near Hannam University and about to open another in Eoeun-dong. I worked as a trainer for a long time, even running my own gym for around seven years. I am also a part-time actor, appearing shortly in some Korean shows. I also originally majored in hotel management, leading me to a sous chef job in Australia. So as you can see, I enjoy experiencing a variety of jobs. I want to try all kinds of jobs. However, my MBTI tells me that I will be a good bartender.

So why did you choose to run Serengeti?

Recently I suffered from a severe case of depression and panic disorder. And I ended up forming a habit of drinking late at night. It was a waste of time and money. So I thought, “why don’t I just drink with others? Or use this money to pay for rent?” Since I always had a sense of admiration for KAIST, despite COVID-19, I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to talk to some KAIST students. That’s why I ended up with Serengeti, and with some time spent managing it, I can see that it really suits me.

I heard the official owner of the Serengeti Pub was your wife, but if you are running both CrossFit and the Serengeti Pub, how do you manage your days? They center around different times of the day and it can be a challenging lifestyle to manage.

I always wanted the life of a CEO. I have other investors and owners that assist me in their management. I couldn’t do it without my coworkers and this applies to Serengeti as well. So I wake up in the morning, do my chores and work on my shift. Currently we close the pub at 12 A.M. due to COVID-19, but the pub used to close at 4 A.M. When the COVID-19 ends, I want to set the closing time to 2 A.M.

The time you took up the pub was very unfortunate, since it was in the middle of the COVID-19. How did your expectations before the actual running of this place change?

Of course, restaurants and cafes have been affected greatly by COVID-19. However, I think the change in ownership had a greater effect on the revenue of this pub. The previous owner ran the pub for almost three decades. He even witnessed some undergraduate students work their way to become professors. The connections he had with them was one of the biggest reasons why the customers came here.

Would that imply a possible change in the pub in any way?

Previously, I had overworked myself to depression, so sadly it would be hard for me to make a big change to the pub. However, we took some critiques into consideration and added side dishes to the menu. We added nachos, Uzbek salads, and lamb chops (my wife is from Uzbekistan).

How about the students of KAIST, did your expectation of them change too?

There are a lot of good memories so far. It’s very enjoyable to talk to all members of KAIST, not just undergraduates, but also graduate students and researchers. It feels refreshing to exchange opinions with people [from different backgrounds] — the students of KAIST have lived such different lives compared to me — so I think all of us can get something out of the conversation.