CJ CheilJedang has released “Laver Snack” under its Korean cuisine brand Bibigo to make inroads into the Korean and foreign healthy snack markets that are all the rage of late. The new snack made with laver is expected to have a good reception in Korea and abroad.

The U.S. snack market is estimated to be worth some $31 billion (some 34 trillion won). If the U.S. market is counted together with Chinese and Japanese markets, the figure is significantly larger. 

The number of so-called healthy snackers is surging. Unlike Korea, in which people eat laver as a side dish, healthy snacks made with seasoned laver and laver are gaining in popularity in foreign markets, including the United States. In this vein, CJ CheilJedang chalked up some 20 billion won in sales from the marketing of seasoned laver products in the United States in 2014.

Judging that popular laver products that hit foreign markets are treated in a deep fired cooking method, CJ CheilJedang has employed methods to differentiate itself from others — a convergence technology combining laver and rice chips and a well-being concept of microwave cooking instead of frying. 

In the United States, China and Japan, the company is seeking to obtain a patent on the convergence technology combining laver and rice chips it developed for the first time in the world. The Bibigo laver snack is characterized as gluten-free, no saturated fat or cholesterol, and having no artificial coloring or flavor enhancers. 

In order to make inroads into foreign markets, including the United States and China, CJ CheilJedang released the new laver products simultaneously abroad. The laver snack entered the U.S. market under the brand name Annie Chun’s, a natural food household name, while it has been released under CJ CheilJeding’s Bibigo brand in other foreign markets. The new laver product is expected to emerge as a force behind the future Korean cuisine boom. It’s ingredients — laver and rice and the fact that it is spicy and crispy, is representative of Korean cuisine. 

The Bibigo snack was developed by the Jeollanam-do Fisheries Research and Development Institute, and laver has been commercialized by CJ CheilJedang, proving excellence in cultivation of laver in the global market. 

CJ CheilJedang plans to hold large-scale promotion events through marketing players, including WallMart and Costco. The company is preparing to hold food tasting events and other marketing activities overseas. It aims at raising domestic and overseas revenues from the new product to 30 billion in 2016 and 100 billion won in 2018.

The Bibigo Laver Snack made its debut at the Korean Pavilion during the Milano Expo 2015 from May 1 to May 31. The first batch of the product was sold out in two hours, having a good reception from customers. 

“Now that demand on healthy snacks are rising in all countries, including Korea, the Bibigo Laver Snack is expected to gain popularity,” said Park Hyun-ung, the Bibigo Laver Snack brand manager. The new laver snack takes a shift from the conventional “healthy one meal” paradigm to “healthy snack,” he added.

About CJ CheilJedang

CJ CheilJedang, Korea’s first sugar manufacturer in 1953, has since spread the joys of food and worked on the development of Korean food culture. It created the global Korean cuisine brand Bibigo, which is representative of the pride and dreams of its 60-year history. 

Based on its experience and knowledge of Korean food, Bibigo aims at sharing the healthy Korean food culture that contains the 5,000-year history of Koreans and their philosophies with the world. 

Based on one of the most loved Korean dishes, Bibigo launched dumplings, sauces, instant rice, kimchi and laver so that people around the world can easily experience Korean food in their homes. Bibigo was launched in the U.S. in 2011, and has since spread to Japan, China, England and Southeast Asia, and is now reaching the rest of the world. 

Thanks to the popularity of Bibigo around the world, Bibigo products were launched in Korea as well in August 2013. 

Bibigo aims to become the top global Korean food brand, adding modern value to the traditions of Korean cuisine.