Allgot’s frozen kimbap
South Korean fishery processing and seafood major Sajo Daelim Corp. has forayed into the frozen kimbap market, becoming a new big player in the country’s food industry to throw down the gauntlet in the frozen kimbap export market pioneered by smaller local food companies.
Sajo Daelim announced the launch of its frozen kimbap brand on Friday, adding that it has already shipped 36 tons of its frozen kimbap products, or 155,000 rolls of kimbap, to the US, since April.
It plans to export about 72,000 rolls monthly, said the company, whose mainstay food products are canned tuna and fishcakes.
Sajo said it makes frozen kimbap rolls with tuna meat and various vegetables, and they come in three types including a vegan one — fried tofu and burdock kimbap, the company said.
The news comes a little over a month after Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang Corp. rolled out its frozen kimbap products in Australia after its success in Japan about a year ago.
Sajo frozen kimbap (Courtesy of Sajo Daelim)
Kimbap, or gimbap, is a seaweed-wrapped Korean rice roll, different from Japanese sushi rolls. The Korean rolls include rice (bap), marinated meat, but mostly beef, a bit of omelet-style egg, carrots, vegetables such as spinach — and rolled into seaweed, called kim or gim in Korean.
The rice rolls are normally served at room temperature and meant to be eaten the same day after cooking. To most Koreans, the idea of frozen kimbap is very new.
But frozen kimbap has recently become a global sensation after its smashing hit in the US amid social media buzz last year.
And the frozen kimbap’s success story overseas was initially led by small Korean food companies, not big food conglomerates.
Screenshot captured from Bokmansa frozen kimbap catalog
Allgot Co.’s frozen kimbap was behind the news about people standing in a long queue in front of the frozen food section at Trader Joe’s stores across the US to get the Korean frozen seaweed-wrapped rice rolls last year.
Allgot is a small Korean food company whose mainstay and only product is frozen kimbap.
After its success in the US, the Korean food company started supplying its frozen kimbap to major supermarket chains on home turf.
But Allgot was not the first frozen seaweed-wrapped rice roll exporter in Korea.
It was Bokmansa Co., which started shipping frozen kimbap products to other countries, first Hong Kong in 2020.
Bokmansa frozen kimbap products (Screenshot captured from Bokmansa frozen kimbap catalog)
This Korean food company now exports its frozen kimbap products to 19 countries, including the US, the UK, Qatar and Indonesia.
As their larger peers from home have joined, competition in the frozen kimbap export market, which is at the center of the latest Korean food fad worldwide, is poised to intensify.
CJ CheilJedang, the owner of Bibigo brand, also plans to export its frozen kimbap products to the US later.
By Hyung-Joo Oh
ohj@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
