Daesang to scale up meal kits, kimchi production in Vietnam

Daesang Corp., South Korea’s leading food maker, said on Monday its two Vietnamese operations have each completed their second plant in the country to scale up their production of meal kits and kimchi, the traditional Korean spicy side dish, as well as dried seaweed.

The second plant in Hải Dương has expanded Daesang Vietnam's annual capacity by 40%, including a new room-temperature manufacturing line for pre-prepared meals with great growth potential.

It will also boost the production of dried seaweed in Vietnam, its key overseas market. Daesang commands more than half of Vietnam’s seaweed market under its global food brand O’food.

It built its first plant in Hải Dương in 2020.

Daesang Duc Viet's second plant will more than double production capacity in Hưng Yên, where it manufactures processed food such as sausage at room temperature.

The new factory will produce meal kits for spring rolls and bánh bao, a ball-shaped bun containing pork or chicken meat and vegetables, in addition to processed meat and kimchi. Daesang’s kimchi is better known by its brand name Jongga Kimchi.

To build the new plants, Daesang poured 30 billion won ($22 million) each into Daesang Vietnam in Hải Dương and Daesang Duc Viet in Hưng Yên.

Last year, Daesang raked in more than 200 billion won ($145 million) in sales of food products and condiments in Vietnam. That is nearly double its revenue back in 2017.

In the Southeast Asian country, kimchi seasoning used to make the Korean staple with locally produced vegetables and meal kits for street food such as tteokbokki and hot dogs are also gaining popularity.

Daesang will produce three types of room-temperature spaghetti sauce in the country.

For refrigerated bánh bao, the preferred breakfast of the Vietnamese, Daesang will unveil three flavors, including that of Korean barbeque bulgogi. Bulgogi is made of thin, marinated slices of beef.

It will introduce frozen spring rolls under the O’food brand with pizza flavor and localized recipes.

In 1994, Daesang founded its first subsidiary in Vietnam and built a factory in Viet Tri, about 60 kilometers northwest of Hanoi, the following year, to produce its signature Miwon seasoning.

In 2016, it acquired Duc Viet Food to expand into Vietnam’s processed meat market.

Write to Sul-Li Jun at sljun@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.