I love a good bibimbap as much as the next guy — Jeonju is worth visiting just for the dish — and I’m glad Korean Air is doing a roaring trade in bibimbaps and gochujang, but if you’re going to promote possibly Korea’s most famous rice-based dish, do you really want to mention this?
Sphere: Related Content“The taste and quality of our bibimbap is so good that it is said that when Michael Jackson visited Korea in 1998, all he ate at the hotels here was bibimbap after he tried the bibimbap on the Korean Air flight over,” the airline said.
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The thing I find interesting is that it seems like every Korean over the age of 12 knows Michael Jackson likes Bibimbap. If I ever mention the word… “bibimbap”, I know I will get one of two borg like responses and often both.
1) Jeon-ju is famous for bibembap.
2) Michael Jackson likes bibembap.
It’s scary.
Yeah, I was wondering about that, too. That’s a dubious endorsement if ever there was one!
Anyhow, not only does Korean Air specialize in bibimbap, but they have regional varieties, too. The last time I flew with them from Vancouver, they were serving smoked salmon bibimbap. It was damn fine!
While I celebrate the globalization of bibimbap, articles like these drive home the point that far too much of the Chosun’s website consists of “news” stories that are pure Korea boosterism. The Chosun should charge advertising rates for and label as ads, about a third of the articles on music, film and industrial products they put out in English.
Even my in-laws, good Shimaneken residents and Takeshima patrots (if that’s the right word) though they are, would agree than Bebimbap is good stuff. In fact they introduced the dish to me at a restatuant called “Bebimba” in Hamada, Shimane and any time we need to go in that direction we always eat there.
Hmmm…I’ve never eaten anything like that on a plane. I’m flying KAL next month, though! It would be nice to eat something other than “chicken or fish?”
It’s pretty good, too. They give you the rice and the meat, veggies, etc. separately, together with red pepper paste and sesame oil in little tubes. Mix it all together, et voila!
I don’t recall if there was an egg to go on top, though….
Oh yeah, and as you can see from the photo, they serve ??¸???? (miyeokguk; seaweed soup) along with it as well (which, for those who haven’t tried it, tastes much better than it sounds!).
If it ain’t “dol sot bibimbab” with “bbyuh gook-mool” as a side it ain’t bibimbab
I love the “noo-roong-ji” that forms on the surface of the stone pot. mmmm
If it ain’t “dol sot bibimbab” with “bbyuh gook-mool” as a side it ain’t bibimbab
I love the “noo-roong-ji” that forms on the surface of the stone pot. mmmm
Man, you’re making me hungry!
Got any soju to go with that?
All in one post, Micheal Jackson, gochu, and wait.. were’s the mention of little boys?
Soju is too expensive in Sydney! upto $18AUD at restaurants. So if you’re shouting then sure!
There’s a fortune waiting to be made in properly exporting Korean food to Western audiences. Set up a restaurant outside of Korea town, hire a native English speaking waitstaff, and make proper menus (ie, ones with more descriptive and compelling explanations than “bibimbap - rice with assorted boiled mixtures”).
The key for each restaurant is to associate itself with one particular type of food, rather than as a “Korean” restaurant. A barbecue restaurant would do well in any market - just ditch the soju and go with red wine as some kalbi places are starting to do in Seoul. A ????°?/?¹??¹”?°? healthy rice theme would do well in a downtown business district as well.
I think Korean restaurants can really only afford to specialize if they’re in a large enough market. Certainly that’s the case here in Vancouver, and there are restaurants that specialize in ?§Œ?‘?, ?¶??³??¸°, palace cuisine, “fusion,” and so on. (Not to mention that it’s even more the case with Chinese restaurants here….)
I disagree completely. There are tens of thousands of profitable restaurants all across North America that associate themselves with one variety of food. Sushi. Hamburgers. Pho. Burritos. Philly cheese steak. Shabu shabu. Coffee.
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on why this would not work for any particular type of Korean food.
i think bibimbab is war food. Take any rotten leftover and add pepper paste.
Libertine:
I could be completely wrong. I didn’t study marketing. But let’s say there’s only a limited market for Korean food in town X. Would it make sense to restrict your menu to one kind of food (say, mandu), thus potentially limiting your appeal, or to sell the usual variety of food, thus maximizing your appeal among as large a clientele as possible?
Anyhow, that’s my take on it.
Your logic is correct if you’re going to go after the same clientele as at present using the same marketing techniques.
But in my earlier post I call for marketing to non-Koreans. Different clientele, different marketing.
Would it make sense to restrict your menu to one kind of food (say, mandu), thus potentially limiting your appeal, or to sell the usual variety of food, thus maximizing your appeal among as large a clientele as possible?
You could have made the same argument against Starbucks ten years ago. Would it make sense to make a chain based on coffee, thus potentially limiting your appeal, when the local diner serves coffee, hamburgers, and twenty other things?
Well, the advantage in focussing on one type of food is that you can quickly excel at it. And you make a good point re pho or sushi joints.
As for Starbucks, it’s more like 18 years where I live (Vancouver, Canada; disregard the flag), since this was their first trial market outside of Seattle. But yeah, it might have been hard to imagine at the time that there could be such a thing as a “coffee bar,” or that it would fundamentally change the way North Americans drink coffee (as indeed it has).
Curious,
A brand that stands for everything stands for nothing. Specialization is the way to go, whether in restaurants or sports cars or coffee. They’re even starting to get that in Korea, what with the LG brand getting broken into LG and GS (they still have a ways to go, but hey, it’s a start). A good book is Al Ries’ “Focus…” and “Kotler on Marketing” ain’t too shabby, either.
Wedge
Speaking of which, I don’t know if you guys the The Apprentice over there in Asia (maybe in AFKN?), but it’s a real contest for the first time this time. It’s down to someone who excels in marketing and people skills versus someone who excels in sales and personal appeal.
I have a lot more appreciation for marketing now, ever since my wife studied Business in university and I was able to casually peruse her textbooks and discuss these ideas with her. (Clearly, I still have a lot to learn.)