Garden of growth: Nongshim plant-based brand Veggie Garden maintains optimism for sector’s ASEAN future

04-Sep-2024 - Last updated on 04-Sep-2024 at 02:24 GMT

Veggie Garden remains optimistic that the sector still has a bright future in the South East Asian region and especially Thailand, citing this region as a major part of its expansion plans. ©Veggie Garden / Nongshim

South Korean food giant Nongshim remains optimistic for the prospects of its plant-based meat alternative brand Veggie Garden, believing that the sector still has a bright future in the South East Asian region and especially Thailand.

Veggie Garden is considered a convenience food brand for Nongshim, and was established as part of the firm’s Nongshim Taekyung food solutions arm.

“There is no doubt that the plant-based industry is currently quite slow [in Asia], but this is the same for many other markets that have been affected by the multiple ongoing issues such as economic and geopolitical crises,” Nongshim Taekyung Marketing Team Manager SeungHyun Lee told FoodNavigator-Asia at ThaiFex-Anuga Asia 2024.

“That said, this is still the future in the food section as there are so many drivers behind it from climate change to welfare, animal ethics, health and more.

“One of the biggest demands we are seeing is for products to be more convenient and healthy, which is why Veggie Garden has launched options such as our new Bulgogi Rice Ball that is ready-to-heat via the microwave in just two minutes.

“This is an option that can allow even consumers with non-communicable diseases that need to watch their food and meat intake to access a familiar South Korean food product without the worry of triggering cholesterol or high blood pressure concerns.”

Veggie Garden boasts no trans fats, no cholesterol and no GMO ingredients in its products, and its trademark V-mince is produced using its proprietary High Moisture Meat Analogue (HMMA) technology to maintain the taste and juiciness aspects.

“Veggie Garden’s main market is still in South Korea where we are very well-known now particularly in the ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat sections,” he added.

“This is also because these products are amongst the most popular amongst busy South Korean consumers, and we see them do well across both online and offline markets as well as in foodservice.”

The brand has a wide range of plant-based products including rice balls, dumplings, fried chicken alternatives, hamburg steak alternatives, bibimbap, pasta, cheese, condiments and more.

“We do not focus only on the meat alternative but the meal as a whole – so in addition to nutrition from soybeans, peas and so on from the V-mince, in the bulgogi balls for example consumers will also be eating vegetables such as mushrooms, cabbage, onions and carrots,” he said.

“This all links back to the concept of healthy eating and also convenience, including allowing the consumers to eat what they need at one go.”

ASEAN aspirations

Moving forward, Lee revealed that Veggie Garden has plans to expand more aggressively into the South East Asian market in order to capitalise on interest here.

“We are already in South Korea of course, also Walmart and Sam’s Club outlets in the United States, and have some presence in Singapore too,” he said.

“But what we are really interested in moving forward is to expand into more Asian markets and particularly South East Asia as there is a lot of potential for growth and expansion here.

“One market we believe has very strong potential is Thailand, as right now we are seeing that Thailand is really one of the most popular markets in this region for plant-based food products.

“What is important is to prioritise the trends of health and convenience in product innovation and marketing, and that way the plant-based will be able to reach its full potential sooner.”