[Post-Corona, Convenience Foods Rise] Hetbahn, Bibigo, and Gourmet on the Table Every Day... CJ's Food Culture Innovation

Growing into a National Brand with Hetbahn...Igniting the HMR Market
Bibigo as the 'Representative of K-Food'...Gourmet Leading 'Premium HMR'
Continuous R&D...Leading the Food Culture Revolution in Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] CJ CheilJedang is expanding the horizons of domestic food culture and presenting the direction of the future food industry by creating home meal replacement (HMR) brands such as ‘Hetbahn (cup rice)’, ‘Bibigo’, and ‘Gourmet’. Furthermore, the company has set a blueprint to achieve the simplification of home dining, the domestication of eating out, and the globalization of Korean cuisine by focusing on nurturing core HMR brands.

According to CJ CheilJedang on the 22nd, Hetbahn, launched in December 1996, has led the growth and development of the domestic packaged rice market for over 20 years and has established itself as a ‘national brand.’ It is recognized as the product that opened the door to the domestic packaged rice market and ignited the formation of the HMR market. As of the end of last year, total cumulative sales exceeded 3 trillion KRW, and cumulative sales volume surpassed 3 billion units. The annual cumulative sales volume last year exceeded 400 million units, which means that each Korean consumed more than eight Hetbahn products on average.

While Hetbahn has established itself as a representative food culture replacing home-cooked meals for Koreans, Bibigo has led a paradigm shift in the domestic frozen food market and has become a key player in the growth of ‘premium frozen convenience foods.’ ‘Bibigo Dumplings’ have gained great popularity not only domestically but also in the global market, establishing themselves as a leading representative of K-food (Korean food wave). Last year, Bibigo Dumplings achieved sales of 868 billion KRW in the global dumpling market.

At the end of 2018, CJ CheilJedang introduced ‘Bibigo Juk,’ a ‘one-meal type HMR’ that allows consumers to enjoy a proper meal with just one product. Juk (rice porridge) has been strongly perceived as a dining-out menu and was mainly consumed at specialty stores rather than as a product. However, with the launch of Bibigo Juk, which offers differentiated taste and quality, it has created a significant impact in the market. This highlights the potential for demand at dining-out specialty stores to be replaced by HMR through differentiated taste and quality that surpass existing products.

Bibigo Juk, centered on pouch-type juk, has led market changes and surpassed cumulative sales of 100 billion KRW last month, just 1 year and 5 months after its launch. The packaged juk market, which was around 70 billion KRW in 2017, grew to approximately 130 billion KRW last year, doubling in size within two years since Bibigo Juk began full-scale sales. CJ CheilJedang plans to continuously promote the trend of making juk a daily meal based on the Bibigo brand power, aiming to grow Bibigo Juk into a 100 billion KRW mega HMR product this year and focus on achieving market leadership.

CJ CheilJedang’s ‘Bibigo Soup Dishes,’ featuring Korea’s representative menu items such as soups, stews, and jjigae, have driven market growth since their launch in 2016, earning the reputation of ‘carefully and properly made home-cooked meals.’ After recording sales of 14 billion KRW in the first year, sales grew to 128 billion KRW in 2018 and 167 billion KRW last year, becoming a mega brand with sales in the 100 billion KRW range. CJ CheilJedang currently exports Bibigo Soup Dishes to about 40 countries and plans to expand its reach beyond the Korean market to overseas mainstream markets this year with dedicated products tailored to global needs. A global version of Bibigo Samgyetang, which also suits foreign tastes, is scheduled for release.

CJ CheilJedang launched the Gourmet brand at the end of 2015 with the goal of ‘providing a special gourmet experience.’ Featuring various products such as hamburger steak, meatballs, hot dogs, and pizza, it captured consumers’ tastes. Recently, with the increase in air fryer adoption, it has led the frying snack trend and continued to grow sales. Gourmet frying snack products such as ‘Gourmet Crispy Fried Tonkatsu,’ ‘Gourmet Chicken,’ and ‘Gourmet Crispy Hot Dog’ recorded sales of about 100 billion KRW last year.

The ‘Cookit,’ a cooking kit by professional chefs, opened a new HMR trend this year. Cookit is a meal kit brand that allows consumers to easily cook fresh ingredients with restaurant-level recipes at home. CJ CheilJedang plans to continuously expand the category targeting consumers who want to enjoy dishes that are difficult to prepare at home easily and aims to grow it to a 100 billion KRW scale within the next three years.

A CJ CheilJedang official emphasized, “Based on Chairman Lee Jae-hyun’s management philosophy of creating future food that can be anticipated 10 or 20 years ahead, we are investing generously in the HMR business. We will focus on strengthening differentiated research and development (R&D), innovative manufacturing technology, and advanced packaging competitiveness to leap forward as a global HMR leading company.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.