SEOUL, July 27 (Korea Bizwire) – ZAIGLE is a Korean household appliances maker best known for its BBQ grill of the same name. The uniquely-shaped cooking appliance has helped propel the venture company to surpass 100 billion won in annual revenue just seven years after the company’s launch.
“We’ll strengthen our offline distribution in Korea while targeting overseas home shopping, supermarkets, and department stores,” said Lee Jin-hee, CEO of ZAIGLE, during a press conference Tuesday at Conrad Seoul Hotel in Yeouido.
ZAIGLE is a BBQ grill that uses infrared rays emitted from the top and radiant heat from the roast pan on the bottom to cook meat and vegetables. The grill was praised for producing little smoke and oil splashes when cooking, making it the perfect equipment for indoor BBQ.
The company’s revenue from exports reached 60 percent at one point in the past, but ZAIGLE has more recently decided to focus on domestic sales with demand from foreign customers closely tied to the domestic popularity of products.
“There are foreign buyers who focus on the ‘Korean Premium’ and tend to demand products that are already popular in the Korean market,” said Lee. “That is why we focused on the domestic market, ultimately resulting in revenue from exports falling to 5 percent. We hope to bring that number back up to about 30 percent next year.”
ZAIGLE estimates the value of the global market for BBQ grills to be $350 billion, and $4.4 billion domestically.
“BBQ is a global food culture, and Korea is particularly fond of BBQ. There are about 390,000 restaurants in Korea that use grills,” he added. “We’ll also be presenting other products, including battery-powered outdoor grills, in the near future.”
“We’re also planning to sell our products at offline stores sometime in the latter half of the year, as well as establishing restaurants where customers can experience the products themselves.”
By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)