Beef tallow remains hurdle to Charrr's global expansion
Samyang Foods Chairwoman Kim Jung-soo speaks during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Myeong-dong, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Samyang Foods
Samyang seeks to stir up black bean sauce instant noodle market
Samyang Foods' Charrr
Countries’ regulations on imported foods containing beef tallow pose a hurdle for Samyang Foods as the Korean instant noodle giant seeks to expand exports of its latest black bean sauce instant noodles, Charrr.
The company has established Buldak as a massively popular product around the globe without using beef tallow, selling 10 billion units and generating cumulative sales of 7 trillion won ($5.2 billion) as of June. Unlike the spicy, brothless instant noodle brand, however, Charrr uses beef tallow as a key ingredient to give its sauce a rich, beefy flavor.
Charrr is not Samyang’s first instant noodle product using beef tallow. The company launched Samyang 1963 in November last year with the ambitious goal of reviving the “forgotten” taste of its first instant noodle product, Samyang Ramen, which was introduced in 1963 and used beef tallow.
Samyang Ramen, introduced by the late company founder Chun Joong-yoon to help feed a population suffering from widespread poverty at the time, remains a cornerstone of the company’s identity. Its use of beef tallow has now become part of Samyang’s strategy for developing new products.
Samyang has secured government approval to sell food products containing beef tallow in the United States and Japan and has successfully exported Samyang 1963 to those markets. The company’s manufacturing plant under construction in Jiaxing, China, has also secured approval for beef tallow production.
For broader global markets, however, the company still faces regulatory hurdles over the ingredient.
“Countries have different but commonly high standards for beef tallow import. Luckily, we have passed the hurdles for the U.S. and Japan, where Samyang 1963 is now sold at H Mart and 7-Eleven stores. We’ll ship Charrr there, too. When the Jiaxing plant is complete, China will be added to our global markets for our beef tallow-based products,” Kim Hee-jeong, a Samyang team leader, said Wednesday.
“There are still other countries with even stricter regulations over beef tallow. What we’re planning is to develop new recipes for our seasoning sauces and flakes that do not use any animal oil. Then we will be able to accelerate our global market expansion.”
Launched in July, Charrr took the company a year and a half to develop. Product Director Chae Hae-young said the company visited more than 100 "jjajangmyeon," or black bean sauce noodles, restaurants in Korea to study their sauces. The field study led to the development of a liquid sauce, with different recipes tested more than 450 times. The noodles were also tested more than 300 times for thickness, chewiness and how well the sauce clings to them.
“Thursday marks the 100th day since we launched Charrr. Since Samyang 1963’s launch last November, we have launched Samyang 1963 in cup and Charrr, which now comprise our 'Beef Tallow Universe,'” Samyang Foods Chairwoman Kim Jung-soo said during a press conference.