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Today, we’re going to introduce Sempio Foods Company, the nation’s leading manufacturer of jang(장), a traditional sauce or paste made from fermented soybeans. Let’s hear from the company’s marketing director Suh Dong-soon(서동순). 

Founded in 1946, Sempio is the longest-standing listed company in Korea. Starting with soy sauce and soybean paste, the company has been dedicated to research of fermented sauces, which are the essential condiments of Korean food, over the last 70 years. Sempio has been the top soy sauce maker for all those years, now accounting for more than 60 percent of the local market. 

The company invests more than 10 billion won or 9 million US dollars in research every year in order to develop the outstanding quality fermented sauces loved by consumers. 

Korean dishes have a range of fermented food items including soybean paste, hot pepper paste and kimchi. Soy sauce, among others, is a must-have condiment in Korean households. And Sempio is the most iconic soy sauce brand on the peninsula. Marking the 72^nd anniversary of its establishment this year, it is the oldest and most celebrated soy sauce brand in Korea. 

The company has many “first” titles. It was Korea’s first producer of commercial soy sauce. Previously, it was taken for granted that people made soy sauce at home. But many households couldn’t afford to do so after the Korean War. Seeing an opportunity, Sempio jumped into the fermented sauce market, ushering in the era of mass-produced soy sauce. 

In the 1950s, Sempio was the first to hire women as door-to-door salespersons, an innovative business strategy at a time when Korean society was much more heavily influenced by patriarchal Confucian gender norms.

Sempio also became the first Korean company to use neon-sign advertisements, produce a song for a TV commercial, and introduce PET plastic containers for its products. Thanks to its innovative business acumen, Sempio has become a household name. Indeed, after seven decades the company is still coming up with new products. One particular innovation in 2012 proved to be yet another game changer.

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Through constant research, the company was able to store and mass-produce traditional Korean soy sauce. We had high expectations for the new product, but it turned out that we weren’t attuned to changing consumer tastes.

So, we decided to modify the traditional soy sauce to fit modern tastes by enhancing its unique deep flavor but reducing the strong smell. The result was Yondu(연두), which is a liquid-type seasoning made from soybeans using a modernized fermentation technology based on traditional soy sauce. 

Sempio specializes in Korean traditional sauces and fermentation technology. To analyze food ingredients and study Korean flavors in a more scientific way, the company invests 4 to 5 percent of its annual sales in research and development. The percentage is relatively high, considering that the food industry standard for R&D stands at 1 percent of annual sales. Indeed, Sempio is behind Korea’s first fermentation R&D center, located in Osong, North Chungcheong Province.

In 2012, the company successfully developed Yondu, a seasoning product made from fermented soybeans. The 100-percent vegetable-based seasoning enhances the flavor of a dish without masking it. Consumer’s seem to agree; Sempio posted an accumulated 18 billion won or about 16 million US dollars in sales, just five years after Yondu’s release. Now, Sempio’s focus is not only Korea but the entire world. 

We thought it would be necessary to evaluate our product from a global perspective rather than to promote it unilaterally from our own point of view. So we carried out a research project in collaboration with the Alicia Foundation in Spain. 

The results of the study suggest that our Yondu line of soy-based sauces may resonate with consumer taste outside Korea. The Spanish culinary research lab said that Korean soy sauce and soybean paste produce a completely different, that is, much deeper and richer flavor than their Japanese counterparts. It even called Yondu a “magic sauce.” 

We are confident that our products can go global and we’ve began to explore foreign markets aggressively. 

Five years ago, Sempio began to conduct a joint research project with Spain’s Alicia Foundation under what’s called the Jang Project. After applying Yondu to diverse ingredients and recipes, Alicia researchers were apparently so fond of the seasoning that they brought it for lunch and added it their meals. The Korean product has received rave reviews globally. 

Yondu won the Best New Condiment award at this year’s Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim in the U.S. It is the world’s largest natural and organic products event. Yondu met all the qualifications of the award. It is all-natural, USDA organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, naturally-fermented with no artificial colors or flavor, and has no added preservatives. It seemed officials were impressed by the versatility of the sauce across a wide spectrum of dishes. There were some 890 candidates in this category but Yondu took the top spot.

It is well received in Europe as well. Some Michelin-starred chefs in Spain and France are developing and offering menu items with Yondu sauce. 

In 2013, Yondu was selected as one of the products of the year by Spanish daily El Periodico de Catalunya. It is now exported to 26 different countries around the world, including the U.S., Spain, Australia, France and China. This year, Sempio opened the “Yondu Culinary Studio” in New York to better promote the company’s fermentation expertise and Korean traditional sauces overall. 

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The Yondu Culinary Studio in New York studies ways to make American and other Western food more savory and healthy by incorporating Korean traditional sauces as well as Yondu in day-to-day cooking. In other words, the studio serves as Sempio’s global marketing hub. While operating the studio, we discovered unexpected benefits. Research results there contribute to not only improving the dietary life of local people but also providing various new ideas about developing Korean food. 

We want Yondu to be regarded as a global condiment or jang, and Korean cuisine using traditional soy sauce and soybean paste to be enjoyed by people the world over. That’s our ultimate goal. 

Sempio held the “Global Jang Workshop” for chefs in New York on November 12. In an effort to satisfy the appetites of the international community with Korean flavors, the company has preserved and introduced some of Korea’s traditional foods to the world through consistent R&D innovation. We’re looking forward to Sempio’s next great idea in the food industry.