After frozen Kimbap craze, here comes Korean street food

It all began in August, when hundreds of tons of frozen South Korean kimbap, or seaweed-wrapped rice rolls, sold out within a month of their arrival in the US market.

Some 250 tons of the Korean rolls, also called gimbap, produced by Korean food startup Allgot Co., debuted through Trader Joe’s, a US grocery chain store operator, and instantly became a hit.

Allgot’s yubuwooung kimbap, or rolls filled with seasoned deep-fried bean curd and burdock, became part of a viral challenge among US social media influencers to eat them together with Buldak Ramen, a spicy Korean chicken flavor ramen – a kind of litmus test of eating like a Korean.

Thawing frozen Korean rolls, normally served with ingredients at room temperature, also surprised many Koreans and became a fad in their home country.

BUSINESS ACUMEN

Son Dong-chan, a frozen food buyer at E-Mart Inc., the Korean convenience store chain operated by Shinsegae Inc., was among the few who saw a business opportunity in the niche market.

He exclusively launched Allgot’s yubuwooung kimbap via E-Mart in December and sold 50,000 units in just five days.

Last month, the 37-year-old food buyer also unveiled a plant-based tuna flavored kimbap and a plant-based spicy pork kimbap – both produced by Allgot – at E-Mart and sold 140,000 of them in one week even before the release of the two products in the US.

“Upon hearing the news of the frozen kimbap sold out in the US market, I picked up the phone, called Allgot and arranged an urgent meeting for a purchase,” Son told The Korea Economic Daily in a recent interview.

The 14-year veteran of E-Mart said he had to hold numerous meetings with Allgot to win frozen kimbap orders from the supplier.

He was also behind E-Mart’s successful Korean launch last year of Bibigo's chicken dumplings with chives, mostly sold overseas.

"After trying samples, it immediately came to mind that this is what anyone who likes chives must try," he said.

Son said the primary qualifications an able food buyer must have is an understanding of what consumers want and seeing it from their perspective.

"In addition to product expertise and an ability to swiftly analyze market data, you have to enjoy shopping more than anyone else to identify trends,” he said.

K-STREET FOOD: THE NEXT BIG THING

He said Korean street snacks, often dubbed K-street food, are the next big thing to appeal to Korean food lovers around the globe.

“Kimbap, hot dogs and ramen are gaining popularity among foreigners as they often appear on mukbang programs. I think the popularity of Korean cuisine will expand to street foods such as fried seaweed rolls, fried squid and bungeoppang (a fish-shaped bun filled with sweetened red bean paste),” he said.

A mukbang, or an eating show, is an online audiovisual broadcast in which a host consumes various quantities of food while interacting with the audience.

Son said he is now setting his sights on bringing lesser-known foreign delicacies to Korea, including Taiwanese-style pig trotters, which recently gained popularity among Koreans after being introduced on a TV show.

“Along with that, I plan to launch several interesting products such as a Spam hot dog,” he said.

Spam, processed canned pork, is a much-loved nostalgic food for many in Korea.

Write to Sun A Lee at suna@hankyung.com


In-Soo Nam edited this article.