▲ Midam / CEO Jo Yong-chul

Although rice is stable food for many Koreans their love of noodle is second to none. A survey of market research firm in 2015 showed that Koreans consumed average 9.7kg noodle per person a year in 2014 ranking No.1 in the world. However, experts have been warning that gluten in flour can cause indigestion, asthma and inflammation in the bowel. 

Midam introduces rice noodle

Established July 2015, Midam has focused on rice noodle. CEO Jo Yong-chul worked for Nongshim for more than 30 years during which he built extensive knowledge and knowhow in noodle. 

Jo differentiated his product lines with rice noodle and various other ingredients such as buckwheat, turmeric and barley buds. In 2017, the differentiation shed light by obtaining excellence in technique from the NICE Investors Service followed by HACCP. 

As a result, Midam rice noodles are being supplied to schools, home shopping channels and around 500 restaurants nationwide at the moment.

Jo has deep knowledge and experience in R&D, OEM and above all reading the trend. OEM capability in particular has made Midam to make almost all kinds of order to made noodles. Also CEO Jo made the elasticity of Midam rice noodle longer than flour which gives long lasting crispiness. 

Mimidang and Sodam Myeonok

Mimidang and Sodam Myeonok are dine-out franchise run by Midam. Mimidang is a fusion rice noodle restaurant offering a variety of rice noodle themed menus as well as fried rice. 

Somam Myeonok is specialized in cold rice noodle with short rib soup and dumplings as sides. CEO Jo is planning to merge the two brands through Mimi F&B June this year to gather strength into a single brand. 

"The difference between flour and rice noodle is whether it contains gluten. Gluten is insoluble which makes us hard to digest. In other words, rice noodle is a good alternative to four noodle" explains Jo.

Years of his expertise and passion in the field has earned Jo and Midam the Customer Surprise Excellent Brand in 2019 alongside the Korea Leader Awards and Korea Value Management Award the same year.

"In South Korea, around 70% of imported flour is used for noodle such as ramen. It is my goal, therefore, to share 10% of it with rice noodle within 10 years. I don't think it unachievable as I'm confident with what I have achieved so far and I'm currently working on rice noodle ramen. Who knows it will hit the market since people's awareness on healthy food is increasing more than ever."