On the 17th, at the Harim factory located in Hamyeol-eup, Iksan City, North Jeolla Province, a noodle-making machine for ramen was busy mixing flour and potato starch with chicken broth. The produced fresh noodle dough passed through a total of seven rollers in sequence, being compressed and spread thin like paper. As the dough flowed through the wave box, which applied a consistent up-and-down vibration, a curvy shape of noodles was revealed from the opposite side.
The ramen produced this way was shaped into a consistent size, fried in high-temperature oil, and then packaged with a soup after moving through a conveyor belt. A Harim official noted, "We are producing between 18,000 and 21,000 ramen packets per hour. The noodle making process is fully automated without human intervention."
The Harim Iksan factory is responsible for producing various food products under the brand 'The Gourmet.' The Gourmet brand was first introduced with the launch of 'The Gourmet Artisan Ramen' on Oct. 15, 2021. Harim Industries is a subsidiary fully owned by Harim.
The direction The Gourmet aims for is to offer products of quality that can substitute for dining out, rather than just simple convenience meals. Harim also introduces The Gourmet using the term HMI (Home Meal Itself) instead of HMR (Home Meal Replacement), which is commonly used to refer to convenience meals.
To achieve this, Harim has differentiated itself by using higher quality raw materials than its competitors and has advanced its manufacturing processes to reduce additives. For example, the ramen soup is made as a liquid soup by boiling chicken, beef, mushrooms, and other ingredients for over 20 hours to maximize the natural flavors, without using chemical seasonings (MSG). The Gourmet ramen has currently diversified into various types such as bibim-myeon and jjajang-myeon. Additionally, instant rice, dumplings, and various retort soup dishes have also been released to expand the product range.
Before the launch of The Gourmet, Harim invested 520 billion won at the end of 2020 to create a factory complex in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, naming it 'Harim First Kitchen.' The idea is to extend the space typically used for cooking in a regular home kitchen to a factory setting, functioning as a kind of 'large kitchen.' A Harim official stated, "We considered the current kitchen shapes of homes, which are more focused on dining rather than cooking. The concept is that cooking will be managed by Harim, so families can just consume various foods we create."
The First Kitchen consists of K1 (Kitchen 1), which produces broths, meat products, and sauces; K2, which makes instant rice; and K3, which handles noodles, along with a logistics center called FBH (Fulfillment by Harim). The total area is 123,429 square meters (about 36,500 pyeong), equivalent to the size of 17 soccer fields.
This facility is designed with a conveyor belt in the form of an over bridge that connects each building. As a result, the ramen soup produced in the K1 factory can meet with noodles produced in the K3 factory at one location for packaging, and then move to the logistics center via the conveyor belt. A Harim official noted, "From the design stage, we considered all the advantages in the processes, and this food manufacturing facility combined with a logistics center is unique in the country."
Despite focusing on value consumption rather than cost-performance, the path for Harim's The Gourmet is still challenging. Chairman Kim Hong-guk of Harim expressed his ambition to grow The Gourmet into a large brand with an annual revenue of 1.5 trillion won upon its launch in 2021 to transform into a comprehensive food company. However, Harim Industries recorded losses for five consecutive years since 2020, with cumulative losses during this period amounting to 410 billion won. Last year's performance showed revenue of 80.2 billion won and an operating loss of 127.6 billion won, with the cost of goods sold being 132.8 billion won, approximately 50 billion won more than the revenue.
Nevertheless, due to factors like COVID-19 and the global economic downturn, the industry's consensus is that consumers still tend to emphasize cost-performance in convenience meals. For instance, The Gourmet's ramen products were priced at 2,200 won from their initial launch, over two times higher than competitors, and they are still maintaining that price.
Despite this, Harim plans to continue its investment in The Gourmet. In terms of ramen, only two production lines, one for fried noodles and another for dehydrated noodles, are currently in operation, but two additional lines will be expanded this year. Additional investments for facility expansion at the logistics center within the factory are also being made.
A Harim official stated, "Airplanes use the most fuel during the ascent to cruising altitude, and turbulence is also high. The Gourmet is still in such a stage," adding, "Our goal is to enhance the products through continuous research and development and increase production volume to achieve economies of scale."