Pulmuone Foods USA, a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of the company, announced on August 22 that it expanded its production line of tofu at its plant in Fullerton, CA in November last year and its tofu sales posted a year-on-year increase of 11 percent in the first half of 2022.
Pulmuone, which has topped the U.S. tofu market for seven consecutive years, is leading the growth of the local tofu market by informing mainstream American consumers of tofu, a representative Korean healthy food, through collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America, one of the world’s best culinary education.
Pulmuone invested about KRW 40 billion in November last year to expand its tofu manufacturing plant in Fullerton, CA to 9,300 square meters and more than doubled its monthly maximum production. Pulmuone is currently operating three tofu manufacturing plants in Fullerton, CA in the west U.S., and Ayer, MA and Tappan, NY in the east.
Through this expansion, the company increased its total U.S. production of tofu by 38% and completed mid- to long-term preparations for the rapidly increasing tofu demand in the country. As a result, Pulmuone USA's tofu sales grew 11% in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. Pulmuone also plans to expand its Ayer tofu manufacturing plant in Massachusetts next year to secure the world's largest tofu production capacity and pave the way for mid- to long-term growth of its tofu business.
Pulmuone is currently selling its tofu products at about 12,000 retail stores nationwide in the United States. In the second half of this year and the first half of next year, Pulmuone tofu products will newly enter additional U.S. supermarket stores and a Canadian distributor channel, respectively.
Pulmuone is also steadily increasing the supply of tofu to Sysco and Restaurant Depot, wholesale retailers that sell food ingredients throughout the East and West of the United States. Pulmuone plans to strengthen its position as the #1 tofu brand in the U.S. and lead the growth of the local tofu market by increasing the number of retail stores to 15,000 and expanding in retail and food service channels simultaneously.
As demand for healthy and eco-friendly plant-based foods has increased since the COVID-19, local consumers in the U.S. are becoming more interested in tofu, Korea's representative food rich in plant protein. Pulmuone is conducting various marketing activities to inform American consumers of tofu recipes.
Pulmuone is leading the spread of K-food by participating as a sponsor at the Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit held in Napa, CA by the Culinary Institute of America, one of the world's best culinary schools, in May to introduce tofu dishes to local consumers and food industry officials.
In June, Pulmuone also sponsored the CIA's cooking education documentary video production project under the theme of ‘plant-based foods in 5 Asian countries.’ The cooking education video, which will be introduced later this year in the U.S., included a demonstration of a plant-based temple foods made by the famous Buddhist monk Jeong Kwan using tofu and a cooking process of various foods with tofu performed by a chef at Pulmuone Institute of Technology.
Pulmuone is also expanding opportunities for U.S. consumers to access tofu by operating social media accounts and spreading various tofu recipes through cooperation with online influencers.
"The U.S. tofu market is still in its early stages of growth as the tofu penetration rate in the local households is still below 8 percent, said KS Cho, CEO of Pulmuone Foods USA. “Pulmuone will raise this number to double digits in the mid- to long-term by developing various products that suit U.S. consumers' palates.”
Pulmuone entered the U.S. market in 1991 and built a tofu factory in Los Angeles in 1995 to start its U.S. business in full scale.
Pulmuone, which operates its Global Soy R&D Centers in Japan, China and the U.S., has continuously expanded the U.S. tofu market by selling various products that satisfy the palates of U.S. consumers including high protein tofu that contain more than 1.8 times protein than average tofu, super firm tofu made with 2 to 4 times harder texture, seasoned tofu glazed with sauce to remove off-flavor, and cubed tofu that can be consumed at once as topping, a burger-patty tofu, etc.
Meanwhile, Pulmuone is expanding its plant-based food business, including plant-based meat as well as tofu, in the U.S. market. Pulmuone Foods USA launched its plant-based food brand ‘Plantspired’ in April 2020, and has since expanded its distribution channel by supplying a local restaurant chain and UMass Dining, the largest university meal service in the U.S., to increase the brand’s sales by 40% in the first half of this year compared to that of 2021.
