'Hotel Kimchi' Thrives Beyond Hotels as Sales Rise and Overseas Distribution Expands

[Financial News] Hotel companies are strengthening their presence in the premium kimchi market by emphasizing taste and quality. Buoyed by positive responses from domestic consumers, they are also accelerating efforts to enter overseas markets by expanding sales channels to the United States, Japan and Australia.
According to the hotel industry on the 6th, sales of Josun Hotels & Resorts' kimchi brand, Josun Hotel Kimchi, rose by approximately 22.5% from January through September compared with the same period last year. Josun Hotel Kimchi has maintained double-digit annual sales growth since the COVID-19 pandemic and generated 54 billion won in sales last year, equivalent to approximately 7% of the company's total revenue. Josun Hotel has remained the market leader in hotel kimchi since it began actively selling kimchi to general consumers in 2004.
LOTTE HOTELS & RESORTS' kimchi business is also showing growth. Sales of Lotte Hotel Kimchi increased by 42% last year from the previous year, and sales rose by approximately 15% year on year in the first half of this year. After launching napa cabbage kimchi in August 2023, LOTTE HOTELS & RESORTS expanded its product lineup to include young radish kimchi, white kimchi, ponytail radish kimchi, radish water kimchi and cubed radish kimchi.
WALKERHILL HOTELS & RESORTS also saw its kimchi sales increase by 63.8% last year from the previous year. Walkerhill's kimchi business began in 1989, when it established the hotel industry's first kimchi research institute at the hotel in response to the late former chairman Chey Jong-hyun's instruction to "make world-class kimchi that tastes delicious whenever it is eaten throughout the year." It later developed the premium brand SUPEX Kimchi in 1994 and began selling it to general consumers in 1997. In 2018, it introduced Walkerhill Hotel Kimchi as an additional brand.
The growing popularity of hotel kimchi is attributed to the spread of packaged kimchi consumption as the number of one- and two-person households increases, as well as rising demand for taste and quality. In addition to consumers' trust in hotels' ingredient management and chefs' culinary expertise, the convenience of enjoying at home the flavors they experienced at hotels is believed to be driving purchases.
An industry representative explained, "Trust in hotel brands, chefs' recipes and systematic quality control are the factors that differentiate hotel kimchi. As satisfaction with the taste is added to that trust, it is leading to purchases."
Overseas sales are also expanding. In February this year, Josun Hotel Kimchi was listed on Wooltari, a premium Korean food platform in the United States. In June, Josun Hotel operated a pop-up store at a premium department store in Japan, and in August it expanded its overseas sales network by entering H Mart in the United States.
In July, LOTTE HOTELS & RESORTS also operated its first overseas kimchi pop-up store at Daimaru Department Store's Tokyo store. The company plans to expand its overseas sales base based on the local demand identified during the event.
WALKERHILL HOTELS & RESORTS has expanded its market from the United States to Australia. After exporting kimchi to the United States in September last year—reportedly the first such export by a hotel company, according to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA)—it expanded sales to the entire U.S. market in February this year and entered Australia in March. As of August, Walkerhill's cumulative overseas kimchi exports totaled approximately 82 tons. The company expects to comfortably meet its export target of 100 tons this year.
A WALKERHILL HOTELS & RESORTS representative said, "We plan to use our existing distribution network, centered on the U.S. market, to increase our sales regions and channels. We will also enter markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East to gradually expand our overseas distribution network. In Korea, we will broaden our points of contact with consumers by expanding sales channels, including our own online store, and strengthening our seasonal product lineup."
[email protected] Jang Yu-ha Reporter