CJ CheilJedang aims to up its revenue in the plant-based department

Industry

Published: 18 Jul. 2022, 16:27

CJ CheilJedang aims to up its revenue in the plant-based department

Jeon Hyun-hak, head of CJ CheilJedang’s plant-based division, talks at a press conference on Monday. [CJ CHEILJEDANG]

CJ CheilJedang is putting its eggs in the plant-based foods basket, aiming to log 200 billion won ($152 million) in revenue from the business both locally and globally in 2025.

Currently, the revenue of the company’s plant-based food business is very small, said Jeon Hyun-hak, head of CJ CheilJedang’s plant-based division, at a press conference Monday. The company expects sales overseas to help it reach its goal, aiming for foreign sales to make up 70 percent. Schwan’s, a U.S. frozen food manufacturer acquired by CJ CheilJedang, and other foreign subsidiaries are also planning to sell plant-based products.

To reach its goal by 2025, the company said it is considering acquiring start-ups in Europe that manufacture plant-based foods. More production facilities will be built in Korea and abroad to increase production.

Rising grain prices and inflation are a few obstacles in the way of reaching the company's ambitious goals.

“Global grain prices are surging, other ingredients are all imported and the won-dollar exchange rate is rising,” said Jeon. “But we won’t let the high costs make us give up on product quality, and we will try our best to hedge risk through other methods such as increasing operating capacity or enhancing productivity.”

CJ CheilJedang started a brand named PlanTable in December last year, which sells kimchi and dumplings that only use vegetables and no meat. New products were added to the brand’s offerings on Monday, including hamburger steak made with only plant-based ingredients.

The products are made with textured vegetable protein (TVP), also known as soy meat, to mimic the taste and texture of meat. CJ CheilJedang plans to improve the quality of its TVP, by increasing the protein content while lowering sodium and fat.

The company also has plans to offer more plant-based products under its Bibigo brand, known for its dumplings. It says Bibigo is well-known to the Korean public, and will help Koreans get more used to the relatively new concept of plant-based meat.

The global market for plant-based foods was valued at 26.4 trillion won last year, with Korea only making up for 11.1 billion won, according to Euromonitor.

CJ CheilJedang is considering supplying its products to school cafeteria catering companies and other big franchise brands to help get Koreans more familiar with plant-based food products.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]