JINCHEON — Hetbahn containers moved in neat rows across the machinery at CJ CheilJedang's CJ Blossom Campus in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, on the 21st. As measured portions of rice filled the empty containers, high-temperature steam sterilization and the injection of cooking water followed. "A single large-scale cooker prepares as many as 4,200 servings of Hetbahn at once," a plant official said.
The factory, which began full operations in 2018, handles CJ CheilJedang's Hetbahn production alongside a plant in Busan. Six lines at the Jincheon plant turn out 280 million servings of Hetbahn a year. The products are sold at home and exported to more than 60 countries including the United States, Canada, Australia and Mexico.
When CJ CheilJedang launched Hetbahn, Korea's first aseptically packaged cooked rice, in 1996, instant rice was unfamiliar to consumers. "Buying rice itself felt strange at the time, and many homemakers felt considerable guilt about not cooking rice themselves," said Kim Sook-jin, head of food marketing at CJ CheilJedang. "There was also a lot of technical skepticism about how rice could be stored at room temperature."
Cumulative sales of the Hetbahn brand are expected to reach 10 trillion won ($7 billion) by the end of this year, its 30th anniversary. The rice used in Hetbahn over the past three decades amounts to 43 million 20-kilogram sacks. Once an emergency option for hurried meals, Hetbahn has become an everyday substitute for home-cooked rice.
The shift followed a surge in single-person and dual-income households in the 2000s, along with a product lineup expanded to match changing eating habits. In 2003, the company introduced seven multigrain varieties in response to health-conscious trends. Multigrain has since taken a growing share of Hetbahn's domestic instant rice sales, rising from around 10% in 2019 to more than 30% last year.
In 2015, the company released Cupbahn, which packages rice and side dishes in a single container, keeping pace with growth in the convenience food market. In 2022 it launched a konjac rice with sharply reduced calories, and this year it introduced a 110-gram Hetbahn Mini Bowl aimed at dieters. The lineup has broadened from simple meal replacements to products built around health management.
CJ CheilJedang has secured 267 patents tied to the Hetbahn brand along the way. "Over the past 30 years, we started from technology to preserve the freshness of rice and have accumulated various technologies to properly reproduce the taste of multigrain and pot-cooked rice," said Oh Ye-jin, a principal researcher at CJ CheilJedang. "More recently, we have widened our research to nutritional design technology that adjusts protein and dietary fiber."
The company is targeting the U.S. market as its core growth driver beyond Korea. Hetbahn's overseas sales have grown at an average of about 30% a year over the past five years. Overseas sales accounted for 15% of the total last year, up from about 8% in 2021. The United States is the main pillar. Of 116 million units sold overseas last year, 105 million were in the U.S.
CJ CheilJedang is focusing in particular on a growing number of American consumers who view rice as a healthy source of carbohydrates. "In a survey conducted locally, 34.6% of respondents said they buy rice because it is a healthy choice," a CJ CheilJedang official said. "U.S. consumers are already using Korean-style sticky rice not only in fried rice and sushi but also in local dishes such as chicken, steak, burritos and rice bowls." According to global market research firm Mintel, the share of U.S. consumers who eat rice at least once a week rose to 45% last year from 37% in 2023.
The company says there is still ample room to expand, noting that Hetbahn's consumer penetration in the U.S. stands at only about 2%. CJ CheilJedang is leaning on the qualities of Korean-style sticky rice. A recent example is its "Sticks To Anything" campaign, run through a billboard in New York's Times Square and collaborations with influencers. The slogan borrows from Hetbahn's U.S. name, bibigo Sticky White Rice, highlighting its chewy texture and versatility with any dish.
CJ CheilJedang plans to add product varieties reflecting local eating habits and to introduce rice dishes commonly eaten in Korea to overseas markets. It is also considering entering Europe. "Beyond the rice innovation that changed the way people live, we will change how the world enjoys rice and move toward a trillion-won business at home and abroad," Kim said.