K-food giants aim to spice up global markets with sauces

Vivid Kitchen sauces are showcased by Dongwon Home Food at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California, last March. [DONGWON HOME FOOD]

 
From kimchi salsa to fiery Buldak sauces, sauces inspired by Korean cuisine are spicing up dinner tables worldwide — and Korea’s food giants are betting big that these bottled flavors will be the next global K-food sensation.
 
Companies like Samyang Foods, CJ CheilJedang and Theborn Korea are broadening their business horizons for business-to-consumer retail sales and even business-to-business (B2B) partnerships.
 

Vivid Kitchen’s low-sugar, low-calorie sauce line [DONGWON HOME FOOD]

 
On Wednesday, Theborn Korea unveiled its TBK (The Born Korea) sauce product line at the Shilla Hotel in central Seoul, announcing plans to expand into global markets. The company introduced seven export-ready sauces based on Korean dishes such asyangnyeom (sweet and spicy) chicken anddoenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), with four more — includingssamjang (a mix of gochujang and soybean paste) — to be released later this year.
 
Its goal is to achieve 100 billion won ($71.84 million) in overseas sales by 2030.
 
Korea’s food and dining industries are increasingly looking abroad amid sluggish domestic demand. According to the Korea Customs Service, exports of sauces such as seasoning pastes and traditional Korean condiments reached a record $399.8 million last year, up 3.6 percent from 2023 and more than double the $189.6 million recorded in 2016.
 
Seasoning sauces that allow consumers to easily cook Korean food have been especially popular. CJ CheilJedang began exporting its new all-purpose kimchi cooking sauce this month to 12 countries, including Britain and France. Initially launched as a B2B product, the sauce targets local catering services and hotels.
 
“We are focusing on overseas markets where kimchi is less accessible due to climate or supply issues,” a CJ representative said. “We plan to release a wider variety of convenient K-sauces for the global dining market.”
 

Panda Express announces its new Dynamite Sweet & Sour Chicken. The dish, a collaboration with Samyang’s Buldak brand, combines crispy chicken with a sauce inspired by Buldak’s signature fiery flavor, making it the spiciest menu item to date offered by the American Chinese chain. The limited-time offering is available in select markets across the country while supplies last. Taken on Tuesday, Aug. 5 in New York. [AP/YONHAP]

 
Samyang Foods, the company behind the Buldak spicy noodle sensation, saw overseas exports from its sauce division surge to 25.9 billion won in 2024, more than triple the 8.3 billion won recorded in 2021. This year, the company racked up 25.2 billion won in the first half alone, already nearly matching last year’s total.
 
Samyang also collaborated with the American Chinese food chain Panda Express to develop a special Buldak sauce used in a limited-edition menu item called Dynamite Sweet & Sour Chicken.
 
Dongwon Home Food is investing heavily in facilities for its low-sugar, low-calorie sauce brand Vivid Kitchen, which posted 15 billion won in sales last year, up 2.6 times from 2023.
 
The company has added new production lines at its Asan and Chungju factories and is building another, set to begin operation next February. Its export lineup includes K-food–based products such as kimchi salsa, kimchi chipotle mayo and bulgogi barbecue sauce.
 
“Vivid Kitchen’s Korean sauces are now exported to the United States, Australia, Canada and Vietnam, and have ranked among the top sellers in the sauces category on Amazon in the United States,” a Dongwon representative said. “We recently obtained halal certification for our powdered production facilities and are preparing to tap into the $2 trillion global halal market.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NOH YU-RIM [[email protected]]