Core Bio Co., Ltd., 

eyeing overseas markets beyond Korea with Kombucha, 

a healthy traditional fermented drink. 

Core Bio is producing ‘Kombucha,’ a fermented healthy tea made with tea extracts, starters and sugarcane. The company has completed standardization of Kombucha with Korea University through the Korea National Food Cluster and is currently preparing to extend its business abroad as soon as domestic online and offline sales channels are in place.

Kombucha, a healthy, traditional fermented drink

Core Bio is a company established by Freshico Co., Ltd., which produces fruit jams for fermented milk, to pioneer new markets.

“We were thinking about what kind of product will be accepted not only in Korea but also globally. What was selected was ‘Kombucha,’ based on an idea that we can secure competitiveness if we select a product that has ‘value’ and also a high entry barrier About 10 billion won was invested in plant and equipment of production facilities for production of  Kombucha.

Kombucha is full of nutrients from probiotics to 12 organic acids, 18 amino acids, 5 vitamins, polyphenol, biogenic amine, etc. The secret of Kombucha is fermentation. While being fermented, glucuronic acid, which is a key ingredient of detoxification, and DSL, which is effective for fighting cancer, are produced, besides previous polyphenol ingredient. Glucuronic acid detoxifies and eliminates xenobiotics such as medicines, environmental pollutants and toxins. DSL acts as an antioxidant, has an anti-cancer effect and suppresses cholesterol. It is an ingredient which is not discovered in green tea or black tea, which are its raw materials, but discovered in the fermentation process of Kombucha.

Difficult standardization process, completed through the industry-university-institute collaboration program of the Korea National Food Cluster.

 Core Bio has its own production facilities in Iksan to produce Kombucha. Jin-su Hwang, the CEO of Core Bio, explained that they built the factory in Iksan because of the possibility of the Korea National Food Cluster: “I think that the Korea National Food Cluster has the potential to be the center of development of the food industry in Northeast Asia with the R&D center and pilot plant which plays a complementary role. It has the potential to grow as the biggest food industry complex in Asia, next to the world’s top three research complexes.”

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Core Bio completed standardization of Kombucha through the industry-university-institute collaboration program of the Korea National Food Cluster. “Like with any other products, standardization is one of the very important and difficult tasks for food production. Kombucha is a traditional drink imported from the USA and Korea has a different legal environment from America. We are standardizing this part with Korea University.”

Currently, racks for Core Bio have already occupied premium markets in Korea. Once online and offline sales channels are in place, overseas sales channels will also be expanded.

“The final target of Core Bio’s Kombucha is the global market. Once domestic sales channels are stabilized, we will prepare to advance into overseas markets in full scale. For this, we are planning to receive support from the Korea National Food Cluster for participation in expositions, marketing or sales promotions.”

Jin-su Hwang, the CEO of Core Bio Co., Ltd.

What are the strengths of Core Bio?

Core Bio is producing ‘Kombucha,’ which is fermented healthy tea made with tea extracts, starters and sugar cane only. Kombucha is filled with healthful ingredients such as probiotics, 12 organic acids, 18 amino acids, five vitamins, polyphenol, and biogenic amine. The secret of Kombucha is fermentation. While being fermented, glucuronic acid, which is a key ingredient of detoxification, and DSL, which is effective for fighting cancer, are produced, besides the previous polyphenol ingredient. It also has a fizzy taste like a coke and an addictive flavor.

What was your biggest concern before moving into the National Food Cluster?

Kombucha is already accepted as a traditional drink in the USA. In markets or supermarkets there, Kombucha has occupied racks for drinks and USDA and Kppa Laboratories (Miami, Florida, USA, 1995) conducted a microorganism and biochemistry test and reported that Kombucha is safe for human consumption. However, the USA has a different legal environment from Korea. Like with any other products, standardization of food is one of the most important and difficult tasks. Fortunately, we successfully completed standardization of Kombucha with Korea University, thanks to the Korea National Food Cluster connecting us.

What are your future plans and what further support do you need?

We will prepare to advance into overseas markets in full scale once sales in Korea are well-established, because the final target of Core Bio’s Kombucha is the overseas market. We are already in the middle of contract negotiations with major food companies, cafes, etc. in Korea and have advanced into several premium markets. We are continuously receiving good responses from customers. We thus expect to advance into overseas markets soo,n so we are planning to receive support from the Foodpolis Support Center for participation in expositions, marketing or sales promotion.