‘KPop Demon Hunters' propels Nongshim's global sauce mission

Tteokbokki made with Nongshim's Shin Toomba sauce / Screen capture from NoodleFoodle

Food company Nongshim has received a significant windfall thanks to the global popularity of the Netflix blockbuster "KPop Demon Hunters."

Instant noodles and snacks in the movie bearing an undeniable resemblance to the company's top sellers generated buzz among viewers as the animated film essentially promoted the company for free. The boom in recognition has led Nongshim to collaborate with Netflix to release a lineup of products featuring the movie's characters on its packaging.

Included among the products is Shin Toomba Sauce. In the movie, members of the fictional K-pop boy band Saja Boys each gulp down an unspecified bottle of hot sauce during a spicy food challenge.

Capitalizing on the movie's viral popularity, the company last month launched the all-purpose spicy sauce with packaging inspired by the movie, promoting it as "the sauce from the movie."

“The movie’s apparent portrayal of our Shin Ramyun and Shrimp Crackers came from Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix, who wanted to use the most symbolic K-foods in the movie. We had no involvement in that whatsoever,” said Kang Yu-kyung, public relations team manager at Nongshim. “As the outcome panned out great for us, we have agreed with Netflix to use the movie in our new cooking sauce packages.”

Nongshim plans to export the sauce to globalize food offerings. Shin Toomba is the company’s fourth all-purpose cooking sauce. The company's sauce business began in 2021, when the company launched Baehongdong sauce, a sour and spicy red condiment ideal for bibimmyeon, a cold noodle dish.

The Saja Boys gulp unspecified hot sauce in a scene from "KPop Demon Hunters." Screen capture from the movie

Nongshim currently runs a website called NoodleFoodle, a platform where recipes based on its sauces and reviews of the recipes can be shared. The company has posted eight recipes using Shin Toomba including pasta, risotto, tteokbokki (simmered rice cake), fried rice and a sandwich.

On Thursday, Nongshim held its monthly Ramyun Day, dedicated to its all-purpose sauces. The recurring event invites select journalists to the company’s research center in Seoul’s Dongjak District, where the company showcases recipes using its products. A researcher behind Shin Toomba explained how the all-purpose sauces can be used for a variety of dishes while making risotto for a cooking demonstration.

“Chapaghetti sauce is similar to oyster sauce in its taste and is super useful. I once used it to feed my boy by mixing it with steamed rice and he loved it so much he somersaulted three times,” a Nongshim official said during the event.

Nongshim currently dominates the domestic instant noodle market, with over 53 percent of market share. Outside Korea, however, Samyang Foods’ Buldak noodles dominate globally.

Sauce has become a new battlefield for food companies targeting global markets. Earlier this month, Theborn Korea, a restaurant and takeout franchise giant, launched seven different all-purpose sauces for foreigners to conveniently cook traditional Korean foods.