CJ CheilJedang steals hearts of PGA fans with K-food
The PGA Tour has become CJ CheilJedang’s hotspot to promote its food products.
From golfers to galleries and TV viewers of the classic golf tournament being broadcast worldwide, those who taste or see dumplings or other Korean foods that are sold frozen have begun boosting the company’s sales in the United States, according to the Korean food company Tuesday.
The popularity of CJ’s signature frozen food brand, Bibigo, has been shaping up at the CJ Cup, a tournament on the tour that CJ Group sponsors.
The annual event that started in 2017 moved its venue from Jeju Island to the United States, first going to Las Vegas in 2020 and to South Carolina in 2022.
The company set up Bibigo Korean Kitchen inside a CJ Cup venue during each tournament.
In October 2022, when the tournament was held at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina, the kitchen was set up in the middle of the venue, and some 7,000 people queued up for a taste of Bibigo.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler visited the kitchen where chefs cooked dumplings, chicken and dried seaweed products back in the 2022 CJ
Cup and praised the food, according to the company.
On back of Bibigo’s mounting popularity throughout the three tournaments in the U.S., CJ saw skyrocketing Bibigo sales in the country last year.
The CJ Cup didn’t take place last year because of the PGA Tour’s revised regulations on season running. The brand’s sales jumped from 365 billion won ($264 million) in 2018 to 4.38 trillion won last year. The latest sales figure accounts for a significant portion of the company’s 5.39 trillion won in overall overseas sales.
The promising market has prompted the company to resume Bibigo promotions at this year’s CJ Cup, which tees off on Tuesday. Having clinched a 10-year title sponsorship deal for the traditional Byron Nelson tournament in Dallas last September, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson takes place at TPC Craig Ranch in Texas.
At the upcoming tournament, with a total purse worth $9.5 million and a top prize of $1.71 million, CJ will open the Bibigo kitchen again.
The company plans to launch Bibigo’s new sweet-and-sour dumplings there.
Also, for the player who scores the first hole-in-one on the 17th hole, the company will cater with a fleet of chefs and cook an impromptu Bibigo congratulatory meal.