The Born Korea to embed hansik recipes in Unox smart ovens

The Born Korea plans to load hansik recipes based on its TBK sauce line onto ovens made by Italian commercial smart oven manufacturer Unox.

The Born Korea announced Nov. 4 that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Unox at the Italian company's headquarters. The agreement centers on combining The Born Korea's TBK sauce-based hansik recipe development capabilities with Unox's oven technology.

Unox, founded in 1990, specializes in commercial smart ovens and posted global sales of 360 million euros ($404 million) last year. The company produces convection ovens, which cook food evenly using hot air, and combi ovens that combine hot air and steam. Its combi ovens come loaded with more than 1,000 cooking programs that automatically control cooking time, temperature and humidity once a menu is selected.

The two companies will test hansik dishes that can be prepared in Unox ovens using 11 varieties of TBK sauce, collecting key cooking parameters as data to jointly develop standard recipes and operating manuals. The goal is to enable consistent flavor and quality in hansik preparation even for those with no prior experience cooking Korean food.

Once the hansik recipes are added to Unox's oven programs, The Born Korea plans to introduce TBK sauce-based recipes to global foodservice buyers and chefs who visit Unox's headquarters for demonstrations. The company also intends to invite representatives from global food and retail companies to its headquarters in Korea for cooking demonstrations. As the recipes reach a wider audience, The Born Korea expects to promote hansik to Unox's European customers as well.

"This will be an opportunity to create new business prospects in the European market by combining our TBK sauce-based hansik menu development capabilities with Unox's cooking technology," a company official said. "We will continue aggressive sales activities to expand our global business while making hansik more accessible."

Meanwhile, The Born Korea is also working with German retail giant Globus. The company has established a foothold in the German market by supplying its TBK sauces and standard recipes to food courts at the first and second Globus hypermarket locations. In October, the Globus chairman visited The Born Korea's headquarters, where the two sides held a cooking demonstration featuring hansik dishes prepared with TBK sauces and discussed further areas of cooperation.