Korea Food Journal Features Blueberry Award

Here is an article in the Korea Food Journal covering the 2016 Little Blue Dynamo Award!

Little Blue Dynamo Awards - Korea

Here are some action shots from the recent Little Blue Dynamos Award event held in Seoul, Korea!
The event was presided over by the USDA-Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) Seoul with Director Lynne Larrabee.  This was a great event to honor the wonderful companies in Korea who do so much for highbush blueberries!

Group photo.

CJ Foodservice

Jinwon Trading

E-Mart

Pulmuone - Juice Manufacturer

European Food Tech Publication Salutes Highbush Blueberries

Check out the latest edition of Food Marketing & Technology.  This is a German publication read by food processors all over Europe and the Middle East.

Korea Blueberry Seminar

In conjunction with the USHBC Little Blue Dynamo Awards in Seoul, TJP presented a seminar and update on blueberries for the trade.  This type of interaction and team building is essential for cooperation and market building!

Here are some highlights:  I will post some cool videos from the event later!

Little Blue Dynamo Awards -- Korea

On December 1, 2016 -- USHBC conducted the Little Blue Dynamo Award for Korean Food Industry!   The event was attended by more than 100 food professionals and served as a rallying point for USHBC activities in South Korea:

Little Blue Dynamo Award 2016

1.       Retail Sector: Emart Company

Emart is the largest hypermarket in Korea operated by Shinsegae Group. It has 136 hypermarkets in Korea while it has 25 stores in China as well. The company has also private label brands and those brands are divided by prices and qualities as like other hypermarkets.

Emart has directly imported the US frozen blueberries for last several years to distribute its over 150 Emart chain stores and 10 Emart Trader stores. Also, both of products are distributed at its online store (emart.ssg.com)

Ø  Product: US Frozen Blueberry imported by Emart for Emart Stores (1.3kg)

Ø  Product: US Frozen Blueberry imported by Emart for Emart Traders Stores (2kg)

2.      Food Service Sector: CJ Freshway & CJ Foodville

CJ Freshway, a subsidiaries of CJ Group, is the Korea’s leading food materials distributor for food services.

The food service business unit of CJ Freshway was launched in 1994 and is currently managing about 400 dining facilities located in business sites, office buildings, hospitals, golf clubs and food courts.

 The company is currently supplying over 20,000 agricultural, fishery and livestock products, processed foods, and kitchen appliances to all types of restaurants including food dealers, food service providers, chain stores and general restaurants.

CJ Foodville who operates Tous Les Jour-the 2nd largest bakery chain in Korea and Two Some Place-one of major coffee chains in Korea continually developed their menus from bakeries to beverage and desserts with blueberry products including frozen blueberries, blueberry concentrate & syrup and dried blueberries supplied by CJ Freshway. Some blueberry menus are as below.

Ø  Menu: Blueberry Cheese Tart Whole (US frozen Blueberries)

Ø  Menu: Blueberry Cheese Cake

Ø  Menu: Blueberry Macaroon (US Blueberry Concentrate & Syrup)

3.      Food Processing Sector: Pulmuone Co., Ltd.

Pulmuone is one of the largest food companies in Korea, established in May 1984. Major products are Tofu, Lamen, Dimsum, Sauce, Korean Soup, Egg, Drinks, etc. Pulmuone has various food business including fresh food, functional healthy food, food service, organic food and mineral water business. The company also has organic one-stop shopping mall called ORGA. It is the supermarket where only organic and/or eco-friendly food products are sold. Foodmerce, the other sister company of Pulmuone, is one of the largest foodservice distributors in Korea and supplies to 500 schools, offices, hospitals nationwide. The company growth was 34% last year. The company also acts as a sales agency to distribute to retailers for specific products after reviewing brand value.

Pulmuone introduced "I'm Real", the premium & 100% fruit juice brand" in 2007 and the company continually has launched new product lines of "I'm Real". For blueberries, there are 3 products to contain US blueberries (fruit, concentrate & dice types) now and it is recognized as very healthy drinks and it distributes to every department stores, hypermarkets and CVSs.

Ø  Product: I am Real - Very Berry (US Blueberry 32%)

Ø  Product: I'm Real-Blueberry Young (US Blueberry 10%)

Ø  Product: I'm Real - Blueberry Yogurt (US Blueberry Dices-11%/ Blueberry Concentrate 1.5%)

4.      Import Sector: Jinwon Trading Co., Ltd.

Jinwon was established in 1979 and its annual sales were 125 million USD. JINWON also operates JungWon WS Company who serves all retails’ requirements such as repacking, quality control, delivery, and 24hrs standing service. Jinson is specialized in importing and distributing fresh fruits. The products include banana, pineapple, orange, lemon, graph, cherry, pomegranate, and kiwi. The brands Jinwon carries are Manna, Sunkist, and Osca. Jinwon would like to expand its product lines by carrying various food products.

Jinwon has imported the US fresh blueberries since 2012 as the largest importer of fresh blueberries in the Korean market. Its major distribution channels include Costco Korea and Homeplus, etc.

Ø  Product: US Fresh Blueberries