Doosan’s long quest to create portable kimchi

The Korean government worked hard to bring kimchi global attention in the 1980s. What it needed was standardization of the taste and packaging that would keep kimchi fresh, prevent it from confusing foreigners or - even worse - going bad before it reached the rest of the world. A catchy brand name was also needed.

The government chose Doosan Group to carry out this task.

Doosan received advice from the late Hwang Hye-sung, a royal food specialist designated by the government as human cultural asset, and came up with a standardized recipe. The brand name they chose was
Chongga Kimchi, derived from the Korean word for “first cousin.” Its logo portrayed a traditional Korean tiled roof. Both the brand and logo reflected the fact that the taste of kimchi had been passed down from generation to generation.

With the completion of a kimchi plant in Hoengseong, Gangwon, in 1987, Chongga Kimchi made its debut as the first packaged kimchi product in the nation. Cleaning and packaging processes were automated, but it was human hands that stuffed every leaf of cabbage with the original ingredients.

Under “three strikes” system, plant workers reported with hair on their uniforms three times were ejected from the factory to keep the product clean.

The packaging was the biggest challenge for the company. The carbonic acid gas emitted by kimchi inflated plastic bags, causing them to pop. Doosan developed a way to draw the air out in 1988 after much study and acquired a patent for it. The following year, with new processes successfully developed to insert a carbonic acid absorber into each kimchi bag, exports of kimchi could finally take off.

When the packaged kimchi market began to stabilize in 1999, Doosan introduced a new sales promotion, calling for salespeople to demonstrate making kimchi right in front of customers. The decision came based on the judgment that demonstrations would build consumer trust in the quality of the product. The 110 billion won ($90 million) kimchi market grew to 150 billion won after the introduction of the new method.

Doosan continued working, this time to make Chongga Kimchi tastier. It successfully cultivated a new type of Leuconostoc lactic acid bacteria in 2005.

It was a result of researchers’ careful search for a bacteria found in a variety of kimchi made in every corner of the country, including Jeju Island. The bacteria contained the spread of Lactobacillus plantarum, another microbe that makes kimchi go sour, and helped the food’s crunchiness to last longer.

Chongga Kimchi maintained its name even after its owner changed from Doosan to Daesang FNF in 2006. The product’s exports to China, Japan and Europe pulled in $28 million in profits last year.

By Choi Ji-young [ebusiness@joongang.co.kr]