CJ CheilJedang (097950) is launching its first business-to-business dumpling product in Japan, expanding beyond the consumer market to take on the country's dumpling market worth more than 1 trillion won ($720 million).
CJ FOODS JAPAN, the company's Japanese unit, said on the 30th that it will release bulk-size dumplings for food service operators on the 1st. The new product targets restaurant chains and the nakashoku market — a category between home cooking and dining out, referring to consumption of boxed meals, side dishes and ready-to-eat food bought at supermarket deli counters or convenience stores.
The new dumplings are filled with meat, vegetables, tofu and glass noodles. Each piece weighs about 35 grams, 1.75 times the size of a typical gyoza at about 20 grams. They can be cooked in various ways, including pan-frying, deep-frying, steaming and boiling.
CJ CheilJedang has steadily built its presence in Japan's dumpling market. It acquired local dumpling maker Gyoza Keikaku in 2020 and has operated four dumpling plants, including one in Osaka. The company also invested about 100 billion won ($72 million) in a plant in Chiba Prefecture with a total floor area of about 8,200 square meters, completed in September last year. The new food-service dumplings will be produced at that Chiba plant.
With the move into B2B, CJ CheilJedang plans to compete in earnest in Japan's frozen dumpling market, valued at more than 1 trillion won. In the consumer frozen dumpling segment, Bibigo's share rose 1.6 percentage points from a year earlier in the January-May period, but still remains in the 10% range. As of this month, Bibigo Wang Mandu is stocked at about 16,200 retail outlets in Japan, sold through major online and offline channels including nationwide stores of AEON, one of the country's largest retailers, as well as Costco, Amazon, Rakuten and Don Quijote.
"Bibigo Mandu Gyoza, launched at the end of February this year, topped 2 million cumulative units sold within six months, and Bibigo Wang Mandu continues to grow," a CJ CheilJedang official said. "Beyond this new product, we are reviewing the development of various products for B2B channels, which can introduce K-food first."
