CJ to launch street food lineup overseas

Japanese consumers visit CJ CheilJedang's Bibigo booth in K-Con Japan 2023 held in Chiba, Japan. (CJ CheilJedang)

South Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang said Monday it will start selling Korean street food products in major overseas markets, such as North America and Europe, riding a wave of momentum from the booming "K-food" business.

The conglomerate will launch six "strategy" Korean street food products in the overseas market under its brand Bibigo.

The new products include tteokbokki, Korean-style hot dogs, gimbap, fried seaweed rolls, bungeoppang (fish-shaped waffle filled with red bean paste) and hotteok (Korean sweet pancakes).

Under the lineup, Bibigo Tteokbokki will be the first to be exported to the US, the UK, France, Japan, and Vietnam starting June. Sales of hot dogs, seaweed rolls and frozen tteokbokki have been schedule from August.

The products will be sold in cups and pouches, CJ CheilJedang said, in consideration of foreign consumers' preferences.

To facilitate sales overseas, the company said it will produce the items at its global production facilities and export them to neighboring countries.

CJ CheilJedang's street food lineup comes after sales of its frozen gimbap in Japan reaped commercial success, with 200,000 units having been sold within the first month of its launch, the firm said.

"We will make efforts to pioneer new markets with K-street food and expand the scope of K-food with our global localization strategies," said an official from CJ CheilJedang.

"In the future, we will spread more diverse Korean culture outside the scope of Asia to expand our overseas markets such as the United States and Europe," he added.

By Lee Yoon-seo(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)