Paik Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, met officials from local food distributors during a business trip to the United States and held three demonstrations to promote the company's "TBK Sauce." After gauging local reactions, The Born Korea plans to weigh follow-up business opportunities such as B2B (business-to-business) supply and B2C (business-to-consumer) distribution.
The Born Korea said on the 27th that Paik presented the products and gave demonstrations to JFC International (JFC), a food distributor in Japan's Kikkoman group, and Wismettac Asian Foods (Wismettac), among others.
JFC is a distributor specializing in Asian foods that has been in the food distribution business in the United States for more than 100 years. It supplies more than 15,000 Asian food items, including those from Japan, through a distribution network across the United States. Its customers range from Asian food specialty distribution channels and restaurant operators to large U.S. supermarkets.
About 50 people attended the demonstration at JFC's headquarters. Paik personally cooked 12 dishes using nine TBK sauces: galbi marinade sauce, seasoned chicken sauce, tteokbokki sauce, kimchi seasoning powder, soy stir-fry sauce, spicy stew sauce, spicy stir-fry sauce, doenjang stew sauce and pickled-vegetable soy sauce. He introduced the features and uses of each product and answered attendees' questions.
After the event, he discussed with JFC's officials in charge of its major U.S. distribution channels whether TBK sauces could be distributed in the B2C market.
Paik also demonstrated dishes made with TBK sauces in front of Wismettac officials. Wismettac offered views on developing home meal replacement (HMR) products using the sauces and on how to market the sauces in the local market. Based on the views offered there, The Born Korea plans to weigh the possibility of cooperation in product development and distribution.
In August, Paik had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Canada with local hotel and real estate company Sunray Group on cooperation in the restaurant business. The two companies are considering converting existing outlets in the Greater Toronto Area to The Born Korea brands and opening additional outlets using Sunray Group's facilities.
A The Born Korea official said, "We will keep expanding cooperation with local companies in various countries, and carry out follow-up procedures for existing memorandums of understanding (MOUs) without a hitch to produce results in the global market."