"Crispy, Chewy, Spicy and Nutty Flavors" Transformed 'Yorihada', Turning Your Home into a Restaurant

Lotte Mart FIC Hosts 'Yorihada' Signature Menu Cooking Show
'Fast and Easy Cooking + Restaurant Taste and Plating'
Yorihada Leads with Kungpao Chicken, Completes Full Renewal After 1 Year Preparation
Enhanced Quality Considering 'Final Flavor Felt on the Tip of the Tongue'
Sales Doubled After Relaunch, 3,000 Kungpao Chicken Sold Daily
"We Will Expand Yorihada Product Development to RMR Level"

On the 25th, Chef Jeon Jeong-hoon demonstrated the cooking of 'Kung Pao Chicken,' the signature product of Lotte Mart's home meal replacement (HMR) private brand (PB) 'Yorihada,' at the Food Innovation Center (FIC) headquarters of Lotte Mart in Songpa-gu, Seoul. (Photo by Lotte Mart)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] "By adding celery, green bell peppers, and red bell peppers according to your preference, you can enjoy 'Kung Pao Chicken' even more richly. Even without using any special additional ingredients, the included special sauce and cashew nuts create a spicy yet savory flavor and aroma, completing a visually appealing plating."

On the 25th at the Food Innovation Center (FIC) headquarters of Lotte Mart in Songpa-gu, Seoul, the Kung Pao Chicken cooking demonstration by Jeon Jeong-hoon, Lotte Mart FIC Chinese cuisine chef, began right in the neatly organized cooking space. Despite carefully heating the wok with oil, after quickly stir-frying the vegetables and briefly cooking the chicken with the sauce, the dish was finished in no time. Even with the short cooking time, once plated, the dish was a 'masterpiece' comparable to restaurant quality. The crispy texture, the spicy flavor of chili oil, and the savory taste of nuts harmonized impressively.

Lee Jeong-hee, team leader of Lotte Mart FIC, explained, "While restaurants sometimes use whole meat, to appeal to the mass market of home meal replacements, we made the chicken using chicken thigh meat combined with potato, corn, and tapioca starch to form a chicken shape." She added, "Even at home, you can easily stir-fry it briefly over high heat to complete the dish, and finishing with a drizzle of chili oil enhances the umami." The following 'Mandarin Orange Chicken' dish was even simpler. Thinly sliced oranges were stir-fried with the chicken sauce, and the chicken infused with the fragrant orange scent was a delicacy.

Kung Pao Chicken and Mandarin Orange Chicken, along with 'Sour and Crispy Yuringi,' are the representative new menu items of Lotte Mart's home meal replacement (HMR) private brand (PB) 'Yorihada.' First launched in 2016, Yorihada was relaunched this month after a year of preparation. Under the slogan 'Chef’s recipe enjoyed at home,' they said they 'changed everything except the name,' completely overhauling concept, strategy, packaging, and more. The target audience was clearly defined as 'working moms in their 30s pursuing gourmet lifestyles amid busy daily lives.' Led by Center Director Kang Leo and FIC chefs, they visited dozens of American Chinese restaurants such as 'Homeboy Seoul' and 'Wokshinery' to research Yorihada’s unique recipes and leveraged their network to acquire secret techniques and experience, reintroducing a total of 66 products including 11 new items. Team leader Lee emphasized, "We improved the completeness by considering the 'final flavor felt on the tip of the tongue,' and paid attention not only to taste but also to enhancing the visual elements of the ingredients to provide visual enjoyment."

Since the relaunch on the 13th, Yorihada has sold more than twice as much as the same period last year over 10 days. Especially, the three American Chinese chicken dishes sold over 20,000 units during this period. The initial goal of '30,000 units sold in one month' is expected to be achieved in about half the time, roughly 15 days. The sales of the three American Chinese chicken dishes accounted for 25% of total frozen chicken sales. Kung Pao Chicken is currently ranked number one in sales within the category, selling up to 3,000 units per day. This is 3 to 5 times the sales volume of other Chinese fried products such as sweet and sour pork, chili shrimp, and Ganpunggi, with merchandisers (MDs) directly controlling inventory and distributing by store due to the hot response. Park Jong-ho, head of Lotte Mart Meal Innovation Division overseeing Yorihada, emphasized, "The frozen chicken category is dominated by large food manufacturers, so achieving number one in sales with a PB product is very rare."

Lotte Mart plans to continuously strengthen the American Chinese food lineup within Yorihada. Park said, "As customer demand for large mart PB products is rapidly increasing in this high-price era, Lotte Mart will enhance PB competitiveness through Yorihada," adding, "Considering that recent consumers want proper quality rather than just low prices, we will expand the development of Yorihada products elevated to RMR (Ready Meal Replacement) level."

Representative product image of 'Yorihada,' the private brand (PB) of Lotte Mart's relaunched Home Meal Replacement (HMR) line (Photo by Lotte Mart).

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