• 🤳 Feastables, PRIME Link Over Lunchly
• 🚚 Kanpai Foods, UNREAL Hit the Bullseye
• 🥖 Baldor Opens New Facility
• 📣 Healthy Choice Wellness Spins Off
• 🐇 Getting To ‘Yes’ Meant Going Down The Rabbit Hole… And Pitching 1,000 Investors

Expect Korean foods and flavors to roll out to more retail shelves in the coming year as the cuisine continues to gain traction on U.S. menus. 

According to market researcher Circana, the number of Korean restaurant locations increased by 10% in the past year, and dishes like kimchi, Korean fried chicken and Korean corn dogs notched double-digit growth over 2023, rising 80%, 22% and 52%, respectively. Also expanding on menus during the period were Korean barbecue jerky sauce (up 80% year over year), spicy Korean sauce (29%) and Korean hot sauce (23%).

“This culinary trend is a vital part of the Korean Wave — a cultural movement that has elevated South Korean pop culture, from K-pop to K-dramas, to worldwide prominence since the 1990s, now further amplified by the reach of platforms like TikTok,” said Tim Fires, president, global foodservice at Circana, in a press release.

The growing influence of Korean cuisine was prominent at both Natural Products Expo West and Summer Fancy Food Show this year. Street food meal kits, bibimbap rolls and more were on display from established and emerging companies alike. 

Haitai Ice, the oldest ice cream brand in South Korea, operated a large booth at the latter event, sampling a multitude of frozen treats including savory ice cream with rice, Korean pear or walnuts. The interest in Korean food culture was part of the reason Haitai Ice was seeking broader distribution from its base in specialty Asian grocers like H-Mart and 99 Ranch into other grocery channels, a company representative told Nosh.

At Newtopia Now in September, frozen food brand Blue Zones Kitchen featured a new addition to its lineup – a Korean Mixed Rice Bowl, inspired by bibimbap and crafted with adzuki beans, zucchini, carrot, spinach and gochujang. 

Korean food exports to the U.S. reached a record high of $1.74 billion last year, according to The Korea Daily. Exports of kimchi and gochujang increased 37.4% and 35.4%, respectively, year-over-year. Instant noodles demonstrated the biggest jump, increasing 66.2% year over year to $126 million in exports stateside. 

And one of TikTok’s most viral food trends this year was subak hwachae, a Korean dessert drink featuring watermelon and rice cake balls.

Go Deeper: Korean Food Craze at The Summer Fancy Food Show

It's the collaboration none of us saw coming, but can’t say we are too surprised to see on our feeds. This week, MrBeast and Logan Paul threw their likenesses, and respective CPG brands, behind a new joint venture aimed at producing better-for-you lunch kits for kids, known as Lunchly. 

🍕 The Lunchables-like products come in Fiesta Nachos, The Pizza, and Turkey Stack Em’s varieties; each box contains crackers, cheese and a protein along with a miniature Feastables bar and a bottle of Prime Hydration. 

💬 What they said: “This move is different than more traditional partnerships… platforming through partnerships is one thing, creating a co-branded joint venture and jumping aisles together is a totally different game.” - Amrit Richmond, founder of Indie CPG

Stay tuned for a deep dive into the launch of Lunchly later today. 

🍬 Freeze-dried candy maker Kanpai Foods has hit the bullseye, landing its Cosmic Crunch Freeze Dried Gummy Clusters in approximately 1,700 Target locations across the country.

🍫 Tony’s Chocolonely has added Kroger to its growing distribution footprint. In a LinkedIn post, Dusan Vujovic, the U.S. and Canada country manager at Tony’s, said, “This is about more than chocolate – it’s about making a real difference for cocoa farmers in West Africa.” 

🎯 UNREAL Snacks has debuted its limited-edition candy bags at Target, both in-store and online. The brand’s Halloween candy bags include Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups and Dark Chocolate Coconut Bars.

🌻 Flavored jumbo sunflower seed snack producer SMACKIN’ has made its debut in Sprouts’ innovation center, according to a LinkedIn post. 

🥩 In other distribution news: Slovenian plant-based whole-cut meat startup Juicy Marbles expects to hit the U.S. retail market in 2025 following its online debut, according to AgFunder News. The company says it is currently working on a more accessible product to broaden its consumer base. 

Baldor Specialty Foods announced today it has brought a new 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse online to support its growing operations in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

🧊 The new facility will house over 7,000 products and includes 35 dock doors as well as refrigeration and frozen storage capabilities. The site is located in Lanham, Md., only 12 miles from D.C. and within close proximity to major highways. 

🧑‍🏭 Baldor said the new infrastructure will allow it to increase delivery efficiencies and support local workers with the addition of 140 employees and plans to hire for additional roles including drivers and warehouse staff.

🗣️ What they said: “We knew we needed a facility that could match the pace of our growth and support our commitment to getting our customers the best products as efficiently as possible. At the same time, we wanted to maximize product sales for our vendors, and bring on more local farmers and producers, while also increasing career and salary opportunities for our employees. With this move, we believe we have hit the trifecta.” - TJ Murphy, CEO and owner of Baldor Specialty Foods

Wellness-focused holding company Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. announced this week it is now listed on the NYSE following an offering of 400,000 Class A Common Stock at $10 per share, generating gross proceeds of $4 million.

🤝 The offering is expected to close today, Sept. 17, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The company will use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes. 

👀 Additionally, Healthy Choice Wellness announced its spin-off from Healthier Choices Management Corp., effective as of Sept. 13. 

🛒 Healthy Choice Wellness operates several small natural retailers, including Ada’s Natural Market, Paradise Health & Nutrition, Mother Earth’s Storehouse, Greens Natural Foods, Ellwood Thompson’s and GreenAcres Market. The company also operates a Healthy Choice Wellness Center in Kingston, N.Y. 

Kaveh Zamanian, the founder of Rabbit Hole Distillery, talks about how his personal passion for whiskey became an entrepreneurial journey, how he assembled a team of industry veterans early into the development of the company, why he credits a strong social support network as key to his career transition and pitching 1,000 investors over the course of two years and how he got 110 to say “yes.”

Listen to the episode now.