Samsung Welstory to enter HMR market

Samsung Welstory employees introduce its home meal replacement products at its headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, July 1. / Courtesy of Samsung Welstory

By Kim Jae-heun

Samsung Welstory said Wednesday it will launch LaLameals, a home meal replacement (HMR) brand, as an addition to its catering services and food ingredients businesses.

This is the first time for the country's largest catering service firm to introduce “meal kits.”

LaLameals adopts the concept of “convenient food with premium nutrition” and offers balanced meals made with various ingredients.

HMRs help consumers pursue a balanced diet and to caters to their growing interest in health.

Samsung Welstory used its 40 years of catering experience in developing its HMR meals and then outsourced product manufacturing to its suppliers.

LaLameals will start with 20 HMRs. They include three kinds of bulgogi, three kinds of vegetable rice and four kinds of burritos.

The product lineup, from snacks to entrees with side dishes, is designed to meet daily nutritional requirements for vitamins, dietary fiber and protein.

The three kinds of vegetable rice contain an average of 49 percent of the fiber needed on a daily basis by adding water-soluble dietary fiber extracted from wheat. Two kinds of nutrient bars provide a full amount of vitamins B and D needed per day.

LaLameals also focuses on using quality ingredients in its products using state-of-the-art technology.

For soy-source-flavored bulgogi and chili-paste-flavored bulgogi, it uses black pork from Jeju Island and softens the meat to increase ease of digestion and absorption of protein.

In addition, the burritos are made from tortillas blending brown rice and almonds to reduce the digestive burden caused by flour consumption, while vegetable rice items are served with grilled short rib patties, which had been hard to find in convenience food products.

With the launch of LaLameals, Samsung Welstory plans to develop the simple food business as a new growth engine for the company. By 2025, it hopes to record 200 billion won in annual sales from LaLameals.

The HMR brand has already begun selling its products on e-commerce platforms such as Auction and Gmarket while releasing introductory videos on YouTube.

It plans to enter physical supermarkets in the near future too and open an online shopping mall by August with 60 more meal options.