Hwayo President Cho Hee-kyung speaks throughout a press convention marking the corporate’s twenty second anniversary at its manufacturing plant in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. Courtesy of Hwayo
YEOJU, Gyeonggi Province — Hwayo, Korea’s main distilled soju firm, needs to grow to be the nation’s No. 1 premium soju model, hoping its product will function a signature drink at main enterprise conferences all over the world.
Throughout a press convention celebrating the agency’s twenty second anniversary on Monday, Hwayo President Cho Hee-kyung stated the genuine Korean product might be standard globally — though the present worldwide marketplace for clear spirits is basically dominated by vodka and gin.
“Many high-end eating places in China provide liquor lists spanning greater than 30 pages, but solely a single web page is dedicated to clear spirits. On that web page, 7 out of 10 objects are completely different sorts of Maotai, with costs starting from 300,000 received ($204) to eight million received,” Cho stated. “One in all my Chinese language enterprise companions as soon as described Maotai as a ‘love-and-hate’ drink as a result of it’s served at each enterprise assembly the place a contract is on the desk — and also you both stroll away with a signed deal or watch it disintegrate.”
She added: “He stated Maotai has at all times been tied to his enterprise ventures. I wonder if executives at firms like Samsung, LG, or SK would someday drink Hwayo when signing contracts value billions and even trillions of received.”
An worker at Hwayo’s manufacturing plant in Yeoju pours extracts from fermented rice into an onggi, or earthenware vessel, on this photograph taken earlier this 12 months. Courtesy of Hwayo
Cho stated nationwide pleasure performs an important function in shaping a model right into a nationwide image. She famous that Maotai, as an illustration, rose to prominence with sturdy assist from Chinese language enterprise leaders.
“With out recognition and assist from home shoppers, Hwayo can by no means develop right into a nationwide model. Corey Lee, the Korean American chef who earned three Michelin stars and now runs a restaurant in San Francisco, advised me that the US had not seen a fandom tradition pushed by one other nation for the reason that Sixties — till Korea emerged within the cultural mainstream. Koreans want to acknowledge that and imagine within the power of Korean smooth energy,” Cho stated.
Hwayo, with its automated sensible manufacturing unit in-built 2023 in Yeoju, at the moment exports its soju lineup of six completely different labels to 30 nations. The U.S. is the most important international market with H Mart the biggest importer.
Hwayo’s soju labels with completely different alcohol percentages and flavors are displayed inside a tasting room on the firm’s manufacturing plant in Yeoju, Monday. Courtesy of Hwayo
The plant combines conventional strategies with fashionable know-how. Nuruk, a standard fermentation starter, is produced beneath fastidiously managed circumstances that regulate the quantities of home rice, microorganisms and temperature to create an optimum combination and fermentation surroundings. The fermented extracts are then saved in 1,500 onggi — conventional Korean earthenware — for additional maturation.
“We now have billions of accrued information for our synthetic intelligence techniques to supply our soju. That information represents what our ancestors had realized and felt,” Cho stated.
Hwayo now heads Hwayo Group, which brings collectively conventional porcelain maker Kwangjuyo and premium culinary platform operator Gaon Society, each sister firms of Hwayo. The three corporations are led by daughters of the group’s chairman, Cho Tae-kwon, who based Kwangjuyo in 1963 and Hwayo in 2003. Kwangjuyo provides containers for Hwayo, whereas Gaon Society designs premium delicacies to pair with the soju.
