Pulmuone to supply food ingredients to 18 US universities

Pulmuone USA, a US unit of South Korea's Pulmuone, said on Tuesday that it has entered into contractual relations with 18 US universities on both coasts, including the University of Massachusetts and the University of California, to supply plant-based foods such as alternative meat steaks.

Pulmuone USA first entered the food service business in the United States back in 2014 and has secured a local distribution network centered on university lunch programs and restaurant chains.

Through a partnership with UMass Dining, the nation's largest university catering service, it succeeded in supplying plant-based alternative meat products to the Amherst Campus of the University of Massachusetts in November last year and later expanded the supply to other universities.

Pulmuone USA has expanded its distribution network since the second quarter of this year to grocery chain stores such as Albertsons and Pavilions by supplying plant-based foods.

"We plan to expand the scope of our B2B business by targeting university lunch programs, which offer steady demand, and the restaurant channel, which is forecast to grow rapidly in the post-COVID-19 era," said Cho Gil-soo, CEO of Pulmuone USA.

In the United States, the plant-based food market has grown at an annual average rate of 16% between 2018 and 2021, reaching $7.4 billion last year, with sales of alternative plant-based meat growing 74% over the same period.

Write to Kyeong-je Han at hankyung@hankyung.com