The popularity of cheese is growing by the day. In South Korea, cheese has recently gone from being a snack to a staple on the table. Cheese is used in everything from square slices of cheese for sandwiches to mozzarella cheese for pizza and hamburgers, ricotta and Parmesan cheese for salads, cream cheese for bagels, and even Korean food such as kimbap, tteokbokki, and ramen add cheese. Recently, various processed cheese products such as baked cheese and snack cheese sticks have been developed, further increasing cheese consumption.

According to the Korea Dairy Committee, per person consumption of cheese in South Korea doubled to 3.7kg in 2022 from 1.8kg in 2010. Unlike in the past, cheese is commonly seen in many foods today and more cheese products are struggling to take the shelves of the grocery. 

Patented technology launches a range of processed cheese products

Establishing the business in 2008, Goldenfarm is producing a variety of cheese such as you-grill-cheese, string cheese, cheese balls, cheese cake and cheese snack. Its patented (2019) rice cheese in particular is a dried cheese that can be eaten like a snack.

“I wanted to make something simple and easy to eat with cheese. And I added vitamin and dietary fiber so that it is not only just a cheese snack but can be a healthy food.” says CEO Joosik Kim.

Golden Farm’s representative product, baked cheese, has been developed to meet the preferences of consumers in a variety of flavors, including sweet potato, mozzarella, cheddar, lactic acid bacteria, and garlic cheese. Other products such as string cheese, glutinous rice cheese balls, and cheese rice cakes are also steadily gaining popularity.

Goldenfarm cheese products use the best ingredients possible and have 30% cheese and 70% domestically grown rice. The company obtained Venture Certificate, Inno-Biz, Main-Biz and a FDA approval. “Many would think that natural cheese is better than the processed. In fact, processed cheese requires more technique and procedures as well as labor cost and ingredients. Last year, we generated about 15 billion won in revenue. This year, we plan to expand the production that might increase the revenue around 20 to 30 billion won. We develop new products for new life style and taste of consumers and we will expand our business to B2C.” says Kim.

Continuous R&D efforts to produce differentiated products

Goldenfarm is leading the industry by producing high-quality products through factory automation, increasing production efficiency, and thorough hygiene management, as well as developing new products. In particular, the company has continued to grow through management innovation.

Goldenfarm is expanding its corporate research center and promoting industry-academia collaboration. The company is continuously leading change through its passion and focus on new product research and development.

CEO Kim says, “We are developing various products to meet the rapidly changing lifestyles and tastes of consumers. So we are expanding our business to B2C through new product development.”

Currently, Goldenfarm’s cheese balls are being supplied to the military and 5 more products will be added. With B2B and B2C in mind, Kim is eyeing overseas markets especially in China and Japan.

Although there are many more foreign workers than domestic workers in Goldenfarm’s factories, labor costs are high. The company is committed to employee welfare, paying its 30 or so foreign workers the same salary as locals. 

“When we move the factory to Yeoju, we will also try to automate the factory. Automation is expected to increase productivity and improve hygiene. We are confident in our processing technology and are confident in our global competitiveness.” says Kim.