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Local food firms eye alternative meat market

A burger made with a meat substitute product by Beyond Meat / Courtesy of Beyond MeatBy Kim Jae-heunLocal food firms and fast food franchises are offering a diverse range of plant-derived menu items as a new consumption trend growing in popularity among millennials is prompting them to seek vegan and alternative meat food products.The domestic market for processed food has displayed stagnant growth for some time and food companies were in need of new growth engines.The country's biggest instant noodle maker, Nongshim, said Tuesday it will accelerate its vegan food business and produce alternative meat products. Another food manufacturer, Pulmuone, recently unveiled plans to become a leading company in producing vegan meat. Global coffee shop chain, Starbucks, revealed a mid-to-long-term plan for sustainability involving collaborations with alternative meat manufacturing firms to develop replacements for beef, pork and chicken.“We expect demand for substitute meat to increase as customers are continuously consuming food based on their values,” a Starbucks official said.The

Apr 7, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Local food firms eye alternative meat market
Politics

Hybe grabs spotlight with plan for new music industry paradigm

Hybe founder and CEO Bang Si-hyuk speaks in an online message last week to announce his plan for debuting a new “global boy band” in collaboration with Universal Music Group at his office in Seoul, Feb. 18. Courtesy of Hybe By Kim Jae-heunHybe Corporation founder and CEO Bang Si-hyuk said last week he will open a new paradigm in the music industry in a video message celebrating the successful acquisition of Ithaca Holdings.“The combination of Hybe and Ithaca Holdings is a new challenge that nobody has expected. The two firms have achievements and know-how in the music industry, and based on our expertise we can create synergy by closely working together,” Bang said. Bang hopes to accelerate the global advancement of K-pop through Ithaca Holdings, which is the mother company of SB Project that manages global pop stars such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and J Balvin.It possesses strong networks and a thorough understanding of the U.S. music market that will help Hyb

Apr 7, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Hybe grabs spotlight with plan for new music industry paradigm
  • BTS company Hybe looks onward, upward with Ithaca merger
Tech & Science

Concerns rise over Chinese investors

A poster for the supernatural fantasy television series, “Joseon Exorcist” / Courtesy of Lotte CultureworksBy Kim Jae-heunConcerns are growing over TV series produced by local entertainment companies whose large shareholders are Chinese firms, after the YG Entertainment-produced “Joseon Exorcist” went off the air over accusations of distorting Korean history. The supernatural history-based drama, “Joseon Exorcist,” was co-produced by YG Studioplex, Crave Works and Lotte Cultureworks. YG Studioplex is a TV production company jointly established by YG Entertainment and Barami Bunda in April 2017, though the entertainment agency owns 99.09 percent of the production firm's shares. What is causing the controversy is that two Chinese firms, Shanghai Fengying Business Consultant Partnership and Tencent Mobility, are the two largest shareholders in YG Entertainment after its founder Yang Hyun-suk, and they could have played an influence in the direction of the drama to favor a Chinese perspective of history. “The allegation that our TV drama is produ

Apr 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Concerns rise over Chinese investors
Tech & Science

Kakao aims to acquire Radish to compete against Naver Webtoon

Social story telling platform Radish shows web novel contents on its mobile application service. Korea Times fileBy Kim Jae-heunKakao is planning to spend 400 billion won to take over global web novel platform, Radish. This is expected to intensify the competition between Kakao and Naver with regard to their intellectual property (IP) business in the United States.According to the Korea Economic Daily, Sunday, Kakao is reviewing acquiring the managerial rights of Radish through its content producing subsidiary Kakao Entertainment. Radish is the fifth-biggest web novel platform in the United States. Kakao also confirmed that it is in the process of acquiring Radish. “As there are more steps in the procedure that we need to go through to close the deal, we cannot go into much detail about it,” a Kakao Entertainment official said.Kakao already invested 32.2 billion won in Radish last July for 12 percent of its shares. In February 2021, the IT giant bought further shares in Radish from venture capital firms that owned stock. If Kakao confirms the 400 billion deal, it will bec

Apr 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Kakao aims to acquire Radish to compete against Naver Webtoon
Companies

HiteJinro out to recapture No.1 title with Terra brand

Models hold HiteJinro's Terra beer products during a promotional event held in Seoul on April 1. Courtesy of HiteJinroBy Kim Jae-heunHiteJinro has been leading the growth and development of the domestic beer market through endless innovations based on its 90 years of brewing technology.Its lineup of beer products varies from its signature item Hite beer and the country's first all-malt Max beer, to the country's first sparkling beer, FiLite. HiteJinro was the first local brewery to attach a thermometer to its beer labels in 1995 to provide guidance to customers on optimal serving conditions. Three years later, it introduced a real-name production system and invented new brewing technology to manage beer temperature.It launched its latest lager brand Terra three years ago with an ambition to capture the best-selling beer title. The lager sold over 1.65 billion bottles in two years since its introduction, which the brewery breaks down as 26 beers sold every second, making it the fastest-selling beer here.In fact, it sold 1 million boxes in the shortest period of any beer here ― 100 mil

Apr 5, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
HiteJinro out to recapture No.1 title with Terra brand
Companies

Shinsegae's online fashion biz uncertain despite acquiring W Concept

Corporate images of SSG.com and W Concept / Korea times fileBy Kim Jae-heunShinsegae Group's e-commerce firm SSG.com has recently acquired the leading womenswear fashion platform W Concept to beef up its online fashion business. However, considering that many e-commerce firms including Amazon are struggling to expand their fashion businesses for various reasons, SSG.com does not look it will achieve anything much different from that of its rivals. The turnover of fashion businesses for local e-commerce firms such as Coupang, Gmarket, Auction and 11STREET is almost 10 percent of the total. This is because fashion brands are hard to manage. Most e-commerce firms here operate open market platforms where individual dealers sell their products. However, they are not all authentic items, especially when it comes to apparel or clothing of premium and luxury brands. The world's biggest e-commerce company Amazon also struggles with the fashion business due to the high volume of counterfeit products sold by small traders. The company failed to take stern action against it and in 2019, the worl

Apr 4, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Shinsegae's online fashion biz uncertain despite acquiring W Concept
Companies

Masayoshi Son to bring Coupang's delivery system in Japan

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son / Korea times fileBy Kim Jae-heunSoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son is thinking of introducing Coupang's overnight delivery system in Japan through his e-commerce firm Yahoo Japan. During an interview with a Japanese television news program on Monday, Son said he is in talks with Yahoo Japan to review the possibility of introducing Coupang's overnight delivery system there. Reuters also reported that Son will adopt Coupang's system through SoftBank's subsidiary Z Holdings. SoftBank said that the chairman wants to open a Coupang-like service in Japan rather than launching Coupang itself there.SoftBank is the biggest investor of Coupang, which its venture capital fund Vision Fund spent over 3 trillion won to acquire a 33.1 percent stake in the e-commerce firm. On March 1, Naver's Japanese subsidiary Line and SoftBank's Yahoo Japan launched the joint venture Z Holdings in Japan to raise competitive power against No.1 player Amazon Japan and No.2 player Rakuten.Naver said it will open its Smart Store platform in Japan in the first half of this year. But Son be

Apr 3, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Masayoshi Son to bring Coupang's delivery system in Japan
Companies

Eland shuts down SPAO store in Garosu-gil, beefs up online business

Eland's SPAO store in COEX, Seoul / Courtesy of Eland By Kim Jae-heunLocal fashion firm Eland has recently closed down its signature fast-fashion brand store SPAO in Seoul's southern posh Garosu-gil area. The decision came after the number of customers visiting the shop decreased sharply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Garosu-gil is referred to as a “ferocious battlefield” for many global fast fashion retailers such as H&M, Zara and Eight Seconds. Eland has reportedly shut down its five-story building there due to the high rental costs. Eland had originally been contracted to use the building until February 2023, but it decided to move out early. The fashion company's shoe brand Shoopen, which had been located on the first and second floors of the same building, also withdrew from the store. “Garosu-gil is a commercial district with a high proportion of foreign customers. But due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of international tourists dropped sharply and we

Apr 2, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Eland shuts down SPAO store in Garosu-gil, beefs up online business
Companies

Chaebol heir takes Nongshim chair

Nongshim Vice Chairman Shin Dong-won addresses mourners at the funeral of his father, Chairman Shin Choon-ho, in Seoul, March 30. Courtesy of NongshimBy Kim Jae-heunNongshim heir Shin Dong-won, eldest son of late Chairman Shin Choon-ho, has successfully opened his era in the food company. His recently deceased father made the succession plan clear long ago and Shin the younger now fulfils that vision.The heir plans to expand the company's instant noodle business to the global market while adding home meal replacement (HMR) items and health functional foods to the firm's business portfolio. Shin will focus on building the company as a general food enterprise. Shin chose mineral water and HMR as its new growth engines. Nongshim's mineral water brand Baeksansu, launched in 2012, already ranks third in the local industry with an 8 percent market share. The firm achieved 100 million won net profit in 2019 and last year the figure soared to 6 billion won. Nongshim's HMR business has just begun. It introduced the meal-kit brand Cooktam in 2017 but it has yet to catch up on market leaders CJ

Apr 2, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Chaebol heir takes Nongshim chair
Companies

Oriental Brewery showcases 27 years of Cass beer evolution, innovation

Changes in Cass beer's label design over the years / Courtesy of OBBy Kim Jae-heunOver the past 80 years, Oriental Brewery (OB) brand has been synonymous with beer among consumers in Korea. The brewer has been making endless efforts to be the premier beer maker in the country. OB's steady-seller beer, Cass, in particular, has been continuously improved by reflecting consumer feedback and the latest market trends. Recently, OB renewed the entire packaging of the beer label to look cooler and more appealing.Cass has been the best-selling brand in the local beer market since 2012. Last year, OB accounted for a 52.7 percent share of the domestic beer market and Cass accounted for 39.5 percent.Last month, OB introduced the “All New Cass” featuring new packaging and brewing method.Cass beer posters / Courtesy of OBSince its launch in 1994, Cass has undergone several transformations both in its taste and packaging design.But it never lost its signature fresh and cool taste and added new flavors reflecting consumer feedback collected in surveys.The product's packaging has also be

Apr 2, 2021By Kim Jae-heun
Oriental Brewery showcases 27 years of Cass beer evolution, innovation
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