CJ Jeiljedang chalked up the best operating profit in its history, led by its mainstay food business. The bio and feed & livestock businesses also saw better business performances. CJ Logistics, a subsidiary of CJ Jeiljedang, surpassed 6 trillion won in sales for the first time ever.
In its public filing, CJ Jeiljedang posted 8.9413 trillion won in sales last year, up 3.6 percent over the previous year. The company saw its operating profit rise 6.5 percent to 624.5 billion won. The mainstay food business led the way. The business division logged 4.6125 trillion won in sales, an 11.1 percent surge over 2015. Rice-processed products and the frozen food segment saw sales jump 38 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
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A view of the Bibigo outlet in Beijing. (Photos: CJ Jeiljedang)
CJ Jeiljedang Aims to Sell 1 Trillion Won in Dumplings
A machine called a “molder” produces about 70 pieces of Bibigo Wang Mandu (king-size dumpling) at CJ Jeiljedang’s frozen food plant in Incheon. It doesn’t take long for the plant to become a sea of Bibigo Wang Mandu.
However, all dumplings pumped out of the molder do not end up on store shelves. Finished products have to go through not only visual inspections but also optical sorting machines. There are also taste inspections before they make it to the kitchen table. Dumplings that pass the tests are placed on a cooking container at a temperature of 99 degrees Centigrade before they are quickly frozen and put into packages.
CJ Jeiljedang’s dumpling line keeps on humming, making CJ Jeiljedang the nation’s No. 1 dumpling maker.
CJ Jeiljedang aims to become the world’s No. 1 dumpling maker by 2020 with the goal of posting 1 trillion won in sales and raising the portion of overseas revenues to 70 percent to usher in an era of “K-Mandu,” or Korean dumpling fever.
Kang Shin-ho, head of CJ Jeiljedang’s plant in Incheon, revealed the vision to the world’s No. 1 dumpling maker utilizing the “demonstration prowess” of Korean dining culture, known as “K-Food.” Under a strategy of fostering Bibigo Mandu (dumpling) into a global brand, CJ Jeiljedang has invested 200 billion won over the past three years into differentiating itself from others in terms of brand value, R&D and manufacturing capabilities.
Aside from topping the Korean dumpling market, CJ Jeiljedang was ranked in the U.S. dumpling market with an 11.3 percent share. The company chalked up 326.5 billion won in dumpling sales in Korea and abroad.
Whether or not the company posts 1 trillion won in dumpling sales depends on how it makes inroads into the Chinese and Russian markets, CJ Jeiljedang officials said. Chances are good that CJ Jeiljedang could win the upper hand in China, since Chinese front-runners are slow in technology development, and Japanese companies lack localization strategies, they said.
The company has poured 200 billion won into expanding its production center, focusing on the United States, China, Russia, Germany and Vietnam. Its strategy is to have a production center on each continent. In particular, CJ Jeiljedang plans to secure market share with M&As in the local frozen food market.
CJ Jeiljedang plans to complete a process of acquiring Ravioli producing Russian dumpling pelmeni by the end of March as part of its strategy to make inroads into Europe. A Vietnamese company, acquired by CJ Jeiljedang late last year, now produces Bibigo Mandu and cho gio, a Vietnamese dumpling. Mainfrost, a German food maker which produces Bibigo products under the OEM regime, has begun to churn out Bibigo Mandu.
CJ Jeiljedang plans to build a new plant in Liaocheng, Shandong, China as a dumpling production Center. A project to expand the existing plant in Guangzhoua three-fold is under way. The company plans to set up a third production center in New Jersey, following plants in Fullerton, California and Brooklyn, New York, to solidify its position as the No. 1 dumpling maker.
