CJ Cheiljedang to Bring Korean Street Food to Europe, North America

CJ CheilJedang is taking the popular Korean street food choices to Europe and North America. In particular, the food manufacturing company will release the favorite spicy rice cake called Tteokbokki to the said regions.

With its Korean street food products, CJ CheilJedang is also aiming to expand their sale in the global food industry. The company said on Monday, May 15, that after North America and Europe, it will start selling in major markets overseas. It will take advantage of the rising popularity of K-food after the Korean Wave swept up most countries around the world.

The Korea Herald reported that initially, CJ CheilJedang would introduce six street food products abroad under its Bibigo food brand. The items are tteokbokki, gimbap, Korean-style hot dogs, bugeoppang fish-shaped waffles with sweet red bean paste, hotteok sweet pancakes, and fried seaweed rolls.

Bibigo’s Tteokbokki will be the first product to be exported to the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam, France, and Japan. These will be shipped overseas starting next month. The rest of the street food lineup is set to be shipped to foreign markets in August.

CJ CheilJedang said that after considering the preferences of foreign customers, it has decided to sell the snack products in cups and pouches. To make shipments easier and faster, the company will be manufacturing the foods at its production facilities stationed outside of South Korea and then sending them out for export to the nearest countries.

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

"From now on, we will try to popularize various types of Korean food culture beyond Asia," Aju Business Daily further quoted another company official as saying.

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