▲ Gold Plate / CEO Cavin Lee

Even before COVID 19 landed in South Korea, statistics in 2018 showed that 29.3% households were singles. It is one in three households. The increase of single households has also increased markets that serve their needs and wants. Most notably, home meal replacement, simply known as HMR, has settled as a new eating trend. In singlers’ point of view, it is buying ‘meals’ not the ‘food’. In other words, HMR made meals simple for them to cook and eat at home. The quality, contents and package are luxury as that of high street restaurants in order to meet the sophisticated eyes and picky tastes of this new generation. 

Gold Plate
Gold Plate is a South Korean HMR company. Starting its services in 2013, the company recently has enjoyed a sharp increase of sales due to the arrival of COVID 19 and the government’s 2 Meters 2 Weeks social distancing campaign. The company is running B2B and B2C frozen food shopping mall ‘Food Yap’ and almost all products released on the market are selling fast. 

Excellent marketing strategies
Gold Plate boasts excellent marketing strategies that are customized to needs and wants of these new consumer groups. The fruit extract detox juice ‘oh my juice’ is a good example. It is kept in frozen so that people can drink whenever they want without worrying of throwing away due to expiry date. The taste is as fresh as it has just been extracted from fruits. 

Value for money
The company has increased yearly online sales of One Halmony (pork wrap brand) to 5 billion won ($4 million) from mere 500,000 won for the last 3 years. The capability of the company also has been well recognized by selling 24 of its own brands alongside 6 large brands online. Since establishment, the company has shown average 50% yearly growth and secured its strong presence in the HMR market. Gold Plate also runs its own shopping mall ‘Food Yap’ by using its all-in-one process from design and packaging to distribution. As a result, the company listed its name in the one-percenters of TMON for 3 years in a row for unparalleled quality, price and services.

100% money back guarantee
Gold Plate gives money back if customers are not satisfied. It is the first case in the industry. The money back applies to all of its 150 products. If complaint is received, the company puts off the product from the shelves for inspection and releases it again after improvement is made. This way, the company keeps high level of customer satisfaction. 

Variety 
From meat and seafood to snacks, the variety of frozen food lines is captivating hearts of consumers. ‘Hongdae jukumi (wetfoot octopus)’, for example, is strictly chosen for more than 60g quality wefoot octopus only. It has no unpleasant smell and it gives tender chewiness yet stingy taste at the finish. For this reason, Hongdae jukumi is popular among women. ‘Janghyang jokbal (pig’s trotters)’, for another example, is cooked every morning for the day delivery. The quality is excellent and the taste heavenly. It is one of the 3 hot sellers. Meanwhile, ‘gangnam hotteok (pancake)’ wowed the company by being sold 300,000 units in last winter alone and ‘maison de blanc’, frozen dough imported directly from France, attracts attention for Eiffel Tower logo.  

Staff welfare
Gold Plate runs flexible working hours and 30 minute reading in the morning. Employees at Gold Plate choose to arrive at work between 7 and 10. The first thing they should do is reading a book for 30 minutes and they can also freely use 1 and half hours of lunch time. CEO Lee said that there was no growth of the business without the growth of employees. All employees are encouraged to have an English name and rank names should not be used. This way, the company has built work environment that is driven by creative ideas, mutual respect and open discussions. In recognition, Gold Plate received Employment and Labor Minister’s prize at the 7th MONEYTODAY Future Creative Superiority Company. Gold Plate is now working on pioneering overseas market based on their already achieved $100,000 export to Europe.