Chicken franchise Kyochon takes K-flavors global with bottled sauce push

The smell of Korean red hot peppers, perhaps familiar to a global audience for the smoky, rich spiciness they give red chili paste, or gochujang, filled the air as the produce was unloaded from trucks at Kyochon BHN Bio’s factory.

Farmer Lim Cheon-seob, right, has supplied red chili peppers to chicken franchise Kyochon through a contract agreement since 2022, according to Kyochon BHN Bio. [KYOCHON F&B]

JINCHEON, North Chungcheong — The smell of Korean red hot peppers, perhaps familiar to a global audience for the smoky, rich spiciness they givered chili paste, or gochujang, filled the air as the produce was unloaded from trucks at Kyochon BHN Bio’s factory.

The fiery peppers, along with garlic and acacia honey, are the primary ingredients of chicken franchise Kyochon’s garlic soy, honey glaze and red hot pepper sauces slathered on their fried chicken. The brand is banking on the Korean flavors to make it a global household mainstay as it expands its bottled sauce business.

Executives from BHN Bio, Kyochon’s sauce manufacturer, introduced their sauce production facility in Jincheon, North Chungcheong and shared their vision to become the next successful global sauce producer following Nando’s, Chick-fil-A and Raising Cane’s to local press on Sept. 26.

Kyochon BHN Bio CEO Song Won-yeop talks about the company's plans to expand its sauce business at a press tour at the firm's sauce production facility in Jincheon, North Chungcheong, on Sept. 26. [KYOCHON F&B]

“We are the only chicken franchise in Korea to have its own factory just for sauces […] which is even uncommon globally,” Kyochon BHN Bio CEO Song Won-yeop said.

“Why are we so particular about our sauces? Well, South African chain Nando’s made 150 billion won [$114.5 million] on its licensed Peri-Peri sauce […] Chick-fil-A, Dave’s Hot Chicken and Raising Cane’s are all successful thanks to their unique sauces, too.”

“Fried chicken leads the K-food wave, and chicken’s flavor comes from the sauce,” he said.

Kyochon's K1 sauce [KYOCHON F&B]

He added that the company plans to export new bottled sauces for meat by the end of the year. Kyochon’s “K1” sauces were launched on Amazon in January of this year and later for local consumers through an exclusive partnership with the supermarket chain Emart.

More OEM and ODM sauces for business-to-business sales are also being readied, Song said. The Jincheon factory currently owns around 2,000 sauce recipes.

All sauces are produced at the Jincheon factory and shipped globally, according to BHN Bio. The only difference is that the ingredients used in sauces for Korea are non-thermally processed, which the brand says preserves their fresh and deep flavor, while those exported are heated to last longer.

Kyochon BHN Bio's sauce production facility in Jincheon, North Chungcheong [KYOCHON F&B]

This means Kyochon chicken tastes the same everywhere — in Korea and in stores in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Dubai, China and Taiwan.

The identical flavor differentiates Kyochon’s strategy from chains like KFC, which localize their products by region to match the local population’s palette.

"Only one person at Kyochon knows the full recipes for the sauces," CEO Song said.

Around 2,800 tons of locally sourced chili peppers, 700 tons of garlic and 215 tons of acacia honey have been used in the brand’s sauces over the past three years, according to BHN Bio.

To ensure that the factory has a sufficient and steady supply of ingredients, Kyochon says it works with contracted farms — around 58 percent of its peppers, for instance, came from those farms.

Such ingredients are then processed mainly by automated machines in the Jincheon facility, where reporters saw firsthand how they were treated and packaged.

Kyochon BHN Bio's sauces are organized and transported by automated machines for delivery at Kyochon's factory in Jincheon, North Chungcheong. [KIM JU-YEON]

“I had two requirements when overseeing the construction of the factory: that it was automated, and that it was a dry factory,” BHN Bio’s production and quality innovation managing director Kim Tae-yoon said.

Automation not only made the manufacturing and shipping process more efficient, but also prevented moisture — which, added with heat, is the primary cause of damage to machinery and mold — from entering the facility, Kim said. Only 27 people work at the smart factory.

Kyochon is Korea’s third-largest chicken brand in terms of sales. It has been diversifying its portfolio beyond chicken, such as through its launch of noodle chain and acquisition of Outback Steakhouse Korea and Super Duper Burgers, as the chicken market becomes increasingly saturated.

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]