CJ CheilJedang to boost K-Street Food exports

Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang Corp. is seeing major success with its "K-Street Food" line, a selection of iconic Korean street snacks with global appeal.

In May last year, the company’s brand Bibigo named six foods to its K-Street Food lineup: tteokbokki, South Korean-style corn dogs, gimbap (seaweed roll), gimmari, bungeobbang (fish-shaped snack filled with red bean paste) and hotteok (sweet pancakes).

According to the company on Tuesday, the three flavors (sweet red bean, custard cream, and sweet corn) of bungeobbang, which launched in South Korea in August last year, the monthly sales in November and December exceeded 1 billion won ($0.76 million) as the winter season approached.

The Bibigo rice tteokbokki, gimmari and ojingeo twigim (fried dried squid) also surpassed 1 billion won in sales within three months of their launch.

Bibigo K-Street Food has been exported to 27 countries including the US, Australia, Vietnam, and Singapore. It’s sold mainly at ethnic markets and online malls in those countries.

In November last year, Bibigo K-Street Food entered the EzyMart a major convenience store chain in Australia, expanding its distribution channels.

The Bibigo frozen gimbap in three flavors (ham and vegetables, bulgogi, and kimchi and cheese), which was launched in Japan in March last year, sold over 200,000 units in its first month. It also entered about 2,000 major retail channels in Japan including AEON, the top-ranked local supermarket chain.

During the Costco Asian Fair in September last year, 25,000 sets of the newly launched Bibigo Chamchi Mayo gimbap were sold out.

The company aims to generate Bibigo K-Street Food’s annual sales of 35 billion won in South Korea alone, and lead the globalization of K-Street Food in major global countries.

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