[Distribution Hot People] The Taste of Japan Preserved... The 'Transformation' of Large Mart Bread

Salt Butter Bread, Texture of Freshly Baked Bread
Roll Cake & Mini Choux Use 'Animal Cream'
Plan to Launch 10 Dessert Varieties Within the Year

"In fact, consumers have a strong perception that mass-produced bread or frozen bread is of lower quality. We want to break the prejudice that bread from large supermarkets tastes bad."

Eunju Yoo, Product Planner (MD) of Lotte Mart Food Private Brand (PB) Development Team. [Photo by Lotte Mart]

On the afternoon of the 24th, at the Lotte Mart headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Yoo Eun-ju, a product planner (MD) of the Food PB Development Team at Lotte Mart, said, "We currently have five dessert products on the market, and our goal is to release up to ten by the end of the year."

The five desserts under the "Yorihada" brand were created in collaboration with Japanese companies. MD Yoo explained, "Japan is originally known for not cooperating on private brand (PB) collaborations. We wanted to create products for three years but were continuously rejected. This time, the confectionery specialist company Pasco showed interest, and we formed a technical partnership."

It took one year to finalize the products. MD Yoo said, "Since it was a collaboration with an overseas company, dozens of samples were exchanged, and communication took a lot of time. Pasco proposed packaging optimized for frozen bread, and it took a month just to find that."

The five Yorihada desserts are receiving positive responses from consumers. MD Yoo said, "In the dessert category, ‘Butter Salt Bread,’ two types of ‘Souffl? Roll Cake,’ and two types of ‘Mini Choux’ occupy all the top five spots. Our initial goal was to surpass existing mass-produced breads and become number one, and it seems we have already achieved that."

Butter Salt Bread is distinguished by a texture and taste that cannot be replicated domestically. MD Yoo introduced, "Thanks to Pasco’s yeast fermentation technology, even though it is frozen bread, when cooked in an air fryer, you can experience the texture and flavor of freshly baked bread. It uses about twice as much butter as regular butter rolls, giving it a rich taste and aroma."

The Souffl? Roll Cake and Mini Choux use only pure animal-based cream. MD Yoo emphasized, "Most domestic products use plant-based fresh cream. In Japan, all products use animal-based cream, which is characterized by a clean and smooth taste. These are made with fresh cream produced in Hokkaido, and they are comparable not only to mass-produced bread but also to bakery specialty stores."

Excellent cost-effectiveness (performance relative to price) is also a key to their popularity. MD Yoo stated, "In Korea, it is absolutely impossible to produce this quality of ingredients at the current selling price. We will continue to offer products that enhance taste and quality at reasonable prices, so those who try them once will inevitably purchase again."