Hyundai Green Food to Exclusively Sell North America's No.1 Vegan Cheese 'Daiya'... Strengthening Vegan Business

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Hyundai Green Food is expanding its vegan food business.

Hyundai Green Food, a comprehensive food company affiliated with Hyundai Department Store Group, announced on the 20th that it has signed an exclusive domestic sales and distribution contract with the Canadian vegan food company "Daiya."

Daiya, established in Canada in 2008, is a vegan food company offering vegan desserts such as cheese, cakes, and ice cream made solely from plant-based ingredients. It is currently available in over 20,000 distribution channels across 20 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and is popular not only among vegetarians but also consumers with lactose allergies.

Daiya's flagship product, vegan cheese, is made from plant-based ingredients such as soy protein, coconut oil, and canola oil. It has been praised for replicating the taste and texture of real cheese and has ranked first in sales volume in the North American vegan cheese market for two consecutive years this year.

The products being introduced this time include shredded cheese, cheese-flavored cake, ice cream, and dressing, which will be sold through Hyundai Green Food’s own online mall "Greeting Mall" and the food sections of five Hyundai Department Store locations (Apgujeong Main Store, Trade Center Store, Mokdong Store, Pangyo Store, and The Hyundai Seoul). Representative products include "Salted Caramel Ice Cream," "New York Cheese-flavored Cake," and "Caesar Dressing."

Hyundai Green Food is strengthening its vegan food business due to the steady growth driven by increasing consumers who care about the environment and health. In particular, vegan foods are gaining customer interest as they can reduce carbon emissions generated during the manufacturing and sales process of meat products.

In fact, the number of vegetarians in Korea is rapidly increasing. According to the food industry, the domestic vegetarian population, which was 150,000 in 2008, grew to 2 million last year, and is estimated to increase by 25% this year to 2.5 million.

Customer response to vegan foods is also positive. Hyundai Green Food has been selling "vegan bread," "vegan mayonnaise," and "vegan marshmallows" through Greeting Mall since February, and explained that sales have exceeded targets by more than 50%, showing better-than-expected results.

Hyundai Green Food plans to triple the number of Daiya product items as early as the first half of next year and develop vegan convenience foods and vegan meal plans. Additionally, it plans to expand product sales channels.

Heonsang Lee, Executive Director and Head of Product Division at Hyundai Green Food, said, "Recently, not only traditional vegans but also 'flexitarians' who enjoy intermittent vegetarianism for personal health are increasing, so we believe the growth potential of the vegan food business is high. We will continue to strive to positively impact customers’ dietary habits by providing healthy foods such as vegan products."

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