Sunsubon "Focusing on Meeting Consumer Demand with Bonjuk Know-How" [The World of Convenience Foods]

Kim Tae-wook, Head of Purebon Ready Meal Business Division

Customer Data Department to be Established
Side Dish Brand Launch Planned for Second Half of the Year

Kim Tae-wook, Head of the Convenience Food Business Division at Soonsubon.

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] "While conducting multifaceted studies on where, how much, and how consumers purchase side dishes, we were able to identify the key touchpoints that consumers feel within the rapidly expanding convenience food market, which led to the birth of a new brand."

Kim Taewook, Head of the Convenience Food Business Division at Sunsubon, stated in an interview with Asia Economy on the 27th, "Sunsubon is developing differentiated flavors and new concept menus based on the know-how of Bonjuk, setting itself apart from other processed foods."

Sunsubon started its business in 2012 under the brand 'Achimen Bonjuk' at Bogwang Family Mart (now CU), emphasizing the uniqueness of 'porridge as a substitute for breakfast.' Since then, it has gained growth momentum by launching additional products such as jangjorim (soy-braised beef), seolleongtang (ox bone soup), and various side dishes. After continuous growth, it expects sales of 30 billion KRW this year and is preparing to launch a new side dish specialty brand in the second half of the year.

Kim said, "While we have relatively focused on product development and sales capabilities so far, we now plan to concentrate on communication with consumers and meeting their demands by strengthening the marketing department's capabilities. We plan to establish a customer data division that can proactively identify customer needs and reflect them in product development to propose trends ahead of the market."

In the early convenience food market, long shelf-life and relatively inexpensive frozen processed foods such as soups and stews dominated, but now the quality has steadily improved, and the categories have diversified.

Kim emphasized, "Consumers have already experienced the differentiated advantages of convenience foods such as hygiene, safety, convenience, and variety compared to cooking or delivery food, so the convenience food market will continue to grow. We will anticipate the increasingly competitive market situation, further segment categories, and establish differentiated concepts and unique identities to gain customer preference."