Vegan food trends are taking over the Korean market as a growing number of consumers prefer plant-based diets. Korean companies are actively releasing plant-based meal replacements amidst K-food’s global recognition growth.
Korean vegan food tech startup ‘Join & Join,’ which runs the brand ‘Nuldam,’ has grown more than 120% in transaction volume compared to last year as of the expected deadline in December.
Join & Join, which had a total transaction amount of 4 billion won ($3 million) last year, said it expected a transaction amount of about 10 billion won ($7.8 million) this year, including the expected transaction amount in December this year.
Join & Join has shown a steady rate of increase and decrease in transaction volume since January 2022, especially in October, achieving about 150% of the same month’s transaction volume, showing remarkable growth rates in the third and fourth quarters.
“After the series A investment of 6.5 billion won ($5.1 million) in 2021, we are expanding not only the existing B2C channels, but also the expansion of B2B channels such as Samsung Welstory and CJ Freshway, as well as securing large offline customers such as E-Mart, Lotte Mart, and GS25 convenience stores. It was the result of hard work,” said an official at Nuldam.
In addition, since the ‘Vegan/Nutrition Lab’ establishment in April of this year, which only studies vegan/nutrition foods and raw materials, Join & Join has been continuously striving to develop sustainable raw materials based on food engineering.
“We are conducting research on vegetable dairy substitutes, vegetable flavor development, and egg substitutes, and introduced various vegan products to the market this year, including original vegan milk, vegan croissants, and bagels,” an official from Nuldam said. “Due to the expansion of new sales channels, including various vegan products launched this year, more and more customers are experiencing vegan for the first time through Nuldam products. We will inform more customers of the strengths and charms of vegan food and strengthen brand awareness,” he added.
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