EP.171/ HOXY
Seasoning the Market: How Hoxy Is Bringing Korean Flavors to Every Pantry
In this episode of Retention Chronicles, host Mariah Parsons chats with Cheryl Kim, Head of Business Development at Hoxy, a fast-growing Korean-inspired seasoning brand making waves in both online and offline retail. Cheryl shares how Hoxy was born from a decade of importing Korean dry goods and a vision to make authentic Korean flavors accessible—and irresistible—to American consumers.
They dive into the brand’s bold packaging strategy, its Gen Z-friendly aesthetic, and how intentional design decisions—from resealable pouches to shelf-ready displays—set Hoxy apart. Cheryl also walks through the company’s growth journey, from landing on the shelves of HomeGoods, World Market, and soon Walmart, to building traction through Amazon Vine, influencer seedings, and TikTok Shop.
Whether you’re a CPG founder, marketer, or flavor enthusiast, this conversation offers rich insights into how to turn cultural inspiration into mainstream success—one savory packet at a time.
EP. 171
CHERYL KIM
Episode Transcript
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)
We've been in the business of Korean dry grocery like pantry items for over a decade and we import a lot of your favorite, your very common Korean like snacks, chips, instant noodles, all sorts of dry pantry grocery items and we kind of saw a white space, a void that needed to be filled and we also noticed the increasing popularity of Korean instant noodles, Korean ramen and Korean flavors in general, like even Korean culture because you see in the movie Parasite that you know won an Oscar, they make this like instant bowl of instant noodles in the movie and so people are just all over anything Korean flavored so we thought you know these flavors that we love that we're using in our cooking on on the daily we thought people like people stateside would enjoy these flavors too with the increase in popularity of Korean culture and Korean food and we decided hey let's package it up and market it and sell it as something super versatile, multi-purpose, multi-use and that's how this kind of came to be. Hello everyone and welcome back to Retention Chronicles. I'm psyched for our episode today.
Cheryl and I met at the Sweets and Snacks Expo here in Indianapolis. I think, when was it? I feel like I've lost track of months. May.
May? Okay, okay. So we're recording this in August. It was a great show.
We were just talking about it before we press record and honestly it felt we were saying like an amusement park. It felt like it doesn't really feel like a work conference just because it is so fun. Everyone's so energetic there and the food industry in general is very nostalgic but then you have a lot of new players in the scene that make it very novel and fresh.
So welcome Cheryl. Please tell our audience who you are, why you're in this seat today, what brings you here. Sure, yeah.
I was in Indianapolis and I met Mariah. We were there with my brand, our brand Hoxy. Our brand is about three years old now.
We started off with kind of a core lineup of ramen seasonings, like Korean ramen seasonings. Look, they come in a pouch like this. I love it.
You had it right there to show. I'm prepared. I'm ready.
You got it, right? And you know, I think that might confuse people. Like why are you bringing ramen seasoning to a sweets and snacks show or expo? But you know, there are all sorts of ramen flavored snacks, whether, you know, it's nuts, trail mix, popcorn, pretzels. And so I think our seasonings are applicable to all of those different snacks and that's why we were there.
And I've been with the company a little over half a year now and I kind of head up all of business development slash strategy, also a little bit of marketing and we've been seeing rapid growth and I'm excited to be here. Yeah. So excited to have you.
Yeah. I remember trying, I think you had like each seasoning. Sprinkled it on like popcorn and stuff.
Yeah. And I remember trying it. I was like, oh yeah, this is good.
And you're exactly right that it fits on a bunch of different snacks. Like I love that you called out, you might not see it as something where you're like, wait, seasoning, how is that going to be related to snacks and sweets? But I saw so many seasoning companies there, honestly, of like saying exactly what you're saying with being able to just okay, put it on a certain snack. And like, I even saw kind of like, what is it? Oh my gosh, what is the word for it? Like salt, like for like margarita mixes.
And they were like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. It's twang.
I think that's the- Yeah. There were a couple of companies, there was like a Chamoy brand too, who was there like showing how they can use, you could put their Chamoy on like different gummy, like gummy bears and like Sour Patch Kids and also like in drinks and all this stuff. So- Yeah.
Super interesting. And like a great, great industry to be in because it can be so diverse. Like obviously, like you said, ramen is probably, I would, I would guess, is that like the number one food that you guys see people using your seasonings on? Yeah.
I mean, it was meant to make ramen broth. Like you add water and it just becomes like soup for your ramen, your noodles. But you know, people have been getting really creative with the way that you use it.
They put it in fried rice, they put it in pasta, they put it on their snacks, they put it in a dip, in gravy, in dressing, like all sorts of things. So it's just like a really good, delicious, savory lineup of seasonings. We have five different flavors.
They're all vegan, no MSG, non-GMO, gluten-free, and they taste great in just about anything. I love it. So tell me a little bit more.
Yeah. Give us your five flavor profiles for our audience. So like I said, the core lineup of ramen seasonings comes in five different flavors.
The one I showed you here, that's chicken. This is our most popular flavor. It's like a spicy, not super spicy, kind of just like a little bit of a black peppery kick.
Think like chicken noodle soup, but like Korean and a little spicy. So that's our most popular flavor. We have beef, veggie, inferno.
I actually have inferno on my desk here too. That one's got to have some spice. Yeah.
So this one lives up to its name. It's super spicy. And then we have hot and spicy chicken, which is meant for stir fry and kind of placed into the whole like, I don't know, you know, buldak.
Buldak is that like fire chicken stir fry noodle that has gone viral on TikTok. I need to go look into this now. Probably after this podcast.
Everybody knows fire chicken noodles, but that's kind of what that hot and spicy chicken stir fry seasoning is. So that's our lineup of ramen seasonings. But like I said, you can use them on just about anything.
And then we also do have some like ready to eat seasonings, like a kimchi flavored seasoning, again, great on pasta. We have what's called purinkle, which is like this creamy, sweet cream butter seasoning. That's really great on fried foods.
And then we recently launched a dried ramen topping. So it's basically, you know, the dried ramen, like the toppings that you get the little packets, but in a larger pouch. And so that's kind of our our lineup of products.
And you can DIY and create your own dishes and your own, you know, bowl of ramen using our products. And that's kind of the whole concept behind it. Yeah, I love that.
And people will get creative, as you said, right? Like they will, they'll make their own dishes. And I feel like it's every other video I see online where it's just like, you didn't think about using this in that way. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And you can make really creative recipes. And a little goes a long way. So this pouch is like 20 servings of ramen.
But you know, like I said, stir fried vegetables, all sorts of things. Yeah, no, I love that. I remember when I tried it, I was like, Oh, my boyfriend would absolutely crush these.
And his birthday is actually coming up. Oh, okay. It's been locked and loaded in the back of his brain.
All the chaos. So yes, great. Thank you.
I know our listeners love hearing kind of like context information, because most of the time you're listening to a podcast, right? You're like probably driving or yeah. So it's always great to give context. And the other question that I love to ask before diving into more of the strategy side of things is just how did you even start the company? Why did you want to start it kind of give us those like lead up footsteps.
So our parent company, actually, we've been in the business of like, Korean dry grocery, like pantry items for over a decade. And we import a lot of like your favorite, your very common Korean, like snacks, chips, instant noodles, or all sorts of like dry pantry grocery items. And we kind of saw, you know, a white space of void that needed to be filled.
And we also noticed the increasing popularity of Korean instant noodles, Korean ramen, and Korean flavors in general, really, like even Korean culture, because you see in the movie Parasite that, you know, won an Oscar, they make this like instant bowl of instant noodles in the movie. And so people are just all over anything Korean flavor, Korean, you know, KBBQ, kimchi. So we thought, you know, these flavors that we love that we're using in our cooking on the daily, we thought people like people stateside would enjoy these flavors too, with the increase in popularity of Korean culture and Korean food.
And we decided, hey, let's package it up and market it and sell it as something super versatile, multi purpose, multi use. And that's how this kind of came to be. Yeah, I love that.
And three years later, here you are. Yeah, yeah. And you know, we've been super fortunate, super lucky to get into some really great offline retail partners.
We're in HomeGoods. We're at World Market. We're launching at Walmart in October, which is huge.
Yeah, that's very exciting. Congrats. We're at some like regional shop rights up here.
You know, it's been great. And obviously, you know, you can find this online on like Amazon, Walmart.com. Yes. Yep.
Awesome. Love it. Giving people the places to shop, let them go and find it.
And then I want to hear from our listeners too, like any recipes people follow because that's always... At the Sweets and Snacks Expo, we met, like not even exaggerating, maybe a dozen people passed by saying, Oh my God, I know this product. We bought it at HomeGoods. We bought it at World Market.
My daughter loves it. My boyfriend loves it. We've been using it like for everything.
And that was kind of amazing because I think our logo and our packaging, like how bold the fonts and like the colors are, people just like instantly recognize the packaging. So that was really nice. I bumped into a bunch of people at Indianapolis who, you know, had tried our products and saw them at like HomeGoods and stuff.
I love that. It must feel really, really incredible, but also kind of otherworldly. Yeah, just like, whoa, like I'm here for a work conference, but I'm here to make connections, but you're hearing from customers.
It's pretty cool. I feel like too, it is interesting, the packaging, because I feel like this is something where specifically in retail, you need really good packaging to stand out on the shelves. But I feel like also in food, really specifically in food, people will really remember you for your packaging.
So I think this will be a nice little blend into talking about acquisition. So walk us through a little bit about how you decided on the colors, the packaging, all the things that kind of led into, you know, how customers are finding you on shelves or online. Yeah.
You know, I think that that conversation also kind of starts with who our target audience, our target demographic was initially, because we knew off the bat that we didn't want to target Asians only, which a lot of Asian, but specifically Korean companies do. It's in the branding, it's in the packaging, Korean products from Korea by Korean brands have a certain like aesthetic, and you know, instantly, oh, this is Korean. But we wanted to stay away from that.
And we're not really a current Korean company in Korea, we're based here, we were born in the States. And so we really wanted to resonate with the American consumer, the average like American consumer, maybe not in like an urban like New York City or LA, but somewhere like in the Midwest, in the south, somebody, you know, who's not super familiar or doesn't have ready, like access to Asian products in their grocery store. So that's kind of like the aesthetic we wanted when it came to the branding and the packaging, we wanted non Asians to be able to, you know, be attracted to it, or, you know, have some kind of like sense of familiarity when it comes to the packaging.
And so that that actually speaks to the bright colors, kind of like the bold fonts, everything's in English, you don't see like a ton of Korean on the packaging. And I think it's also a little bit like Gen Z vibes, where it looks like kind of young and like fresh, and again, bold. And obviously, the colors kind of like are in line with each flavor.
So the chicken is yellow, like the inferno is black, the veggie is green. So we chose these like very bold, solid colors that stand out on the shelves, you know, big fonts that you instantly read, and we really had the American average American consumer in mind. Yeah, no, and it stands out.
I feel like, yeah. The person who like decides the marketing turn that's like Gen Z aesthetic, they'll be a millionaire, because I feel like it's like, everyone knows what you're talking about. And I'm like, maybe I should work on that.
You know, I should point it on this podcast, because I feel like I say the same thing where I'm like, it's very Gen Z. It's hard to articulate. Exactly. We all know like what we're talking about.
Yes, yeah, you understand. You understand. So okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Obviously, yes, target customer, target demographic wanting to reflect wanting to show that in the reflection of the packaging. And I think it's so smart when you obviously have different like so many brands whether their legacy or their up and coming is just different flavors have different packaging. And there's obviously a lot of opportunity that you can with every flavor, you know, you can continue to have a different color, but it's still your brand.
That's the center. So I find that very fun. Okay, now having talked about kind of target demographic, were there any like details with packaging of like different iterations? Did you test them at all? Like, do you think it'll change in the future? Do you have any more details in there that Yes, so when it comes to the packaging, you know, they're, they're all pouches, they're resealable, you know, portable, resealable, you can carry them, like, when you go camping, bring them like on a trip, that type of thing.
They also have like holes poked in them, which I know is kind of random, but also very specific to like grocery stores, because you could hang these as opposed to like, them taking up real estate on the shelves, which is very important when you you know, think about entering a big grocery store. So these things all came into play. But also, when it comes to like bottles, you know, like you have like chili flakes and things that come in bottles, those aren't easy to fully brand.
Because if you think about it, you are just slapping a sticker onto bottles, whereas, whereas with the pouch, you can fully cover the entire pouch with like all the info you need all the design elements you want to include. So we tested different sizes, different types of pouches, we went from bottle components, and then ultimately decided on the resealable pouch, and they you know, they stand up nicely. So all these like kind of small details were all considered when we made the ultimate ultimate decision to go with this type of a pouch.
Okay, so would that necessarily like price differently in different retailers than shelf space? Or is it kind of still equivalent? I think like when it comes to like the SRP, it should be the same. But I think when it comes to like, you know, the different types of like promotional pricing, or the different like pricing structures that you have to take into consideration later on, like marketing budget, that type of thing, I think that sort of comes into play that there, but not so much when you're just deciding like, you know, what price point you want to sell it at. Yeah, okay.
That makes sense. Yeah, very, very interesting. Those little things that you think about right with package design and the whole so you can hang it or have it be a bag.
And also you can like, you know, stick a spoon in there as opposed to you have to like, shake it out of a container or out of a bottle. These little details, I think speaks to the experience of using seasonings, especially seasonings that you're not familiar using. I feel like with like red chili flakes, you know how much you want on a slice of pizza, you know how much is gonna be okay for your like bowl of you know, whatever it is.
But this seasoning, which is still fairly new to the average American consumer, you want to be able to have them have control of how much they're putting into a dish. So being able to put like a little teaspoon in there was kind of also something that was important. So all those little details, I think, you realize, add to like the user experience when it comes to grocery.
Yeah, and also to make a great point, like most of the time, it's funny, most of the time, when you see a bottle, you're expecting it to be clear. So you can like see inside, but a bag, you don't have any of that connotation. So I was just also thought that came to my mind with the kind of the real estate that you have on the packaging.
Exactly. Doing a bag versus a bottle. Okay, sweet.
Well, next, I like to kind of talk about just how do customers hear about you, customer acquisition, whether that's like customers telling you directly, oh, I found you, you know, through a form or something like that. I found you through this retailer or this ad or whatever. I love hearing, you know, operators walk through, how are people hearing about you? Yeah.
Yeah. You know, like I said, our parent company has been in the business of selling a lot of different grocery items online for a very long time, very successfully. And so when it comes to our online strategy, like, you know, Amazon, walmart.com, we've kind of, we have enough experience to be able to like, put this product on Amazon and sell it.
Whether that's through entering the vine program and getting reviews and putting enough inventory in there and making sure that people are, you know, getting as much information that they can from the product page through like the different contents on the product page. So that part of selling, I think, and acquiring customers came easy to us because we've been doing it for so long. But then you get to the offline and also like social media and, you know, these days TikTok shop is kind of, again, we go back to the Gen Z thing, but TikTok, you have to be on TikTok shop if like you're targeting the Gen Z customer.
Right. So that was kind of something that we didn't have as much experience with, but we were really lucky that the home goods buyer instantly saw our product at like the fancy food show a couple of years ago and was like, this is interesting. I want this on my shelves.
So very luckily we got into some offline channels that we didn't even expect. And they performed, our products performed really well. The sell-through rates were really good.
The buyers were like, yeah, people are just, it's, it's flying off the shelves. So all the flavors gotten into all of the stores, they have like, you know, almost a thousand stores nationwide. And I think that was kind of our first real like face-to-face with customers offline.
And again, that came by chance. It was a blessing and that led to, you know, like world market and some other accounts. Like I said, we're in some regional shop rights.
We're going into Walmart. So that offline strategy really has been happening organically and we're so fortunate. And now, you know, we're starting TikTok shop.
We're, we're trying to ramp up our socials, Instagram, and TikTok. We're pumping out content. And I do think that that's a really important piece of the pie that we don't have just yet, but we're working towards gaining.
Because like I said, I do think that this is very Gen Z friendly. And I feel like the influencers that we're reaching out to, we've been doing like influencer seedings and stuff and trying to get some UGCs. I do feel like everybody really appreciates the product, how they look, how they look in the videos, how they look, you know, on camera.
And also just how easy they are to use and to create content with. So, you know, TikTok shop and acquiring, getting customers there, I think is kind of like the next step now. And we're, we're really excited.
We built, you know, a beautiful website e-commerce site a couple of months ago that we launched. And we're really not doing any like crazy marketing just yet or advertising, but people are finding us. And I do think that's a combination of like, you know, us trying to be as active as we can on social plus them finding us offline.
Plus like, you know, we've been on Amazon. So it's, it's like a combination of all that just organically driving traffic to, to our website too. But what we plan on doing, you know, so much more, so there's always more we can do.
Yeah. I love that. No, there's so much to dive into.
So thank you for that. I, I just want to call out because some of our listeners might not be familiar like the Amazon Vine program is you can invite customers to like review products for free and like kind of get through that initial, maybe like, I don't know, X amount of timeframe where it's like, you can start to, you know, find your way on Amazon. So yeah, I definitely feel like for, especially CPG and food, like this is reviews, like flavors, products, people want to, people want to see other people's reviews before they, you know, purchase them.
So is there any, like any tips or anything for someone who, you know, here's this podcast episode and they're like, Oh my God, why am I not a part of that program? Is there any like things you've learned along the way that you'd share with someone about the Vine program specifically? Yeah. Well, I do think you have to think about like the cost of like the cost of your goods too. Cause that's, you know, that's essentially a marketing cost.
Cause you're giving out these products for free. You're shipping them out to like 30 ish people. Right.
And you're also running the risk of people not liking the product and giving you a one star and being like, Hey, I got this for free, but I still hate it. You know, you can't force people to love. So you do run that risk.
But I think overall though, I've had good experience with the Vine product. I do think it's well worth that small initial investment. You are driving traffic to your page.
You are getting reviews that you otherwise wouldn't have gotten. And I do think that people who are familiar with the program, people who shop a lot on Amazon kind of sometimes even like look for those reviews. And they know that these like Vine reviewers, these people who participate in the program can kind of be trusted for their opinion, for their like honest opinion.
So I think it's overall a positive sort of like strategy to, to get those initial reviews on your like otherwise empty page. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
And Amazon really does. You're right. Like people are so familiar with reviews on Amazon that it's like, it really can make or break the difference.
So I, I think the next thing was TikTok shop. And I, I actually was just on a webinar with Jordan West. He is like TikTok shop guru.
I feel like he's like thinking through so many things. So you definitely look into his LinkedIn posts if you haven't. And he, I'll just summarize basically what he was talking about where it was orchestrating a blitz day for TikTok shop.
And so I don't know if you've like seen that before, but it was basically, you know, having whatever amount of creators influencers that you have and seeding them product, but telling them like, Hey, please don't post until this day, we're going to be getting everyone to post on this day. So it like a blitz effect. You see a bunch of different videos and then, you know, like we're going to be putting some ad dollars behind it.
So you could be, you know, your profile would be, you know, maybe part of that. And so it's kind of like a win-win. So I thought that was an interesting approach to TikTok shop.
And I feel like I've seen brands, especially, I feel like comfort just did this. Whereas like, I was like, they're everywhere. Yeah.
All of a sudden you're like hit with a whole bunch of videos of the same thing. Yeah. So there's definitely like pros and cons to it.
But I feel like, especially if it's on a scale that isn't like massive, massive, then it could be really cool. So I just wanted to put that through there and ask you kind of the same question of, you know, now that you're ramping up more on social and trying to really get to that, you know, Gen Z TikTok audience, what would you say to anyone in our audience who is like, okay, I know it needs to be there, but I'm not like, how do I start to ramp up that channel? Right. It's not just Gen Z on TikTok.
There are like, you know, older generations on TikTok who, you know, are more savvy with social media and that specific platform that I could ever be. And so maybe instead of saying the Gen Zs, maybe I'll say that the people who use that platform. The TikTokers.
The TikTokers, yes. But anyway, yeah. So, you know, what I find, especially in food, I think, and what we're trying to do is, you know, you try to create content.
We try to create content internally too of things that we hope will go viral. Right. And that I know sounds, oh yeah, duh, of course you want it to go viral, but you know, it's kind of like a very specific strategy because you have to really like look for why certain videos work and why certain videos don't and whether or not that type of video and that format can apply to your product and whether that makes sense, because sometimes a certain like TikTok sound or song could go viral and people will be like trying to use it, but it doesn't make sense with their products, nor does it make sense with their branding.
And it's like just off brand. So you have to kind of like find something that works for your brand and your products. Right.
And so obviously we are a food brand. And so we look for, you know, we try to benchmark a lot of different accounts that have similar aesthetics or products creating like different recipes or showcasing, you know, like food products specifically, whether it's like the finished result or the texture or the cooking process, you know, all of these things. So, you know, we try to be, we try to be smart and wise about the type of content we're trying to put out there.
But ultimately I do think that there's that huge kind of like food recipe searching, like, you know, demographic on TikTok and they're like specific searching for certain hashtags. And, you know, there's a whole world of like ramen TikToks and ramen recipes out there. And that's what we're very like in tune with, or we're trying to benchmark and pump out.
Yeah, that really makes sense. Okay. Third thing I wanted to kind of riff on was just the happenstance of getting into home goods.
I feel like that's really, I mean, obviously sounds like sell through rates, right? Really great for the brand, but also one of those places, one of those retailers that maybe brands wouldn't think of automatically for food. And I feel like it, when you think about, okay, home goods, what is your experience normally like? You'll find those, like, you're not going to find obviously a bunch of different foods, but you'll find things like that, where it's like seasoning, you could fall into like the snacks and the like meal prep and meal seasonings, obviously. But then it's like, it also tips into gifts a little bit too, where like I was saying like, oh, I know this will make a great gift for people that I know will enjoy it.
And so I feel like that hopefully is a reminder for our audience. Like even if it's not, you know, like the biggest retailer that you're getting in first, which has its own headaches associated with it, there are a bunch of these other retailers that it might make sense for your brand to live in and still see a lot of success. So I love that, you know, you could share, okay, like HomeGoods was our first offline channel.
And, you know, like you said, people don't realize how big, how significant of a food section, like grocery section HomeGoods has, and they've been expanding. And I feel like they're going to continue to expand. And so if you walk into a HomeGoods, there are, it's like double, triple the number of aisles that it was, you know, just a couple of years ago.
And you see products from and the thing that I really like and appreciate about HomeGoods is I don't think I've ever really seen a brand that I've like seen before at just a regular grocery store on the shelves at HomeGoods. They're always stocking and curating a really unique, diverse, global international selection of items that you like, probably never thought you needed, but like you really wanted by. Oh, that's what I think their buyers do an excellent job at.
And, you know, I do also think that they are very in tune with like, pretty, like they know what looks nice on the shelves. And they offer a great value, right? So anything that you find in the pantry, you know, section at HomeGoods, it looks pretty, you want to buy it and put it on your shelf at home, but also it's a great, it's at a great price too. So, you know, with all of those really awesome, like attributes, I think people have been finding that shopping for like food items at HomeGoods is actually quite nice.
And like you said, because they're so special, they're really nice to gift. And it's like stuff that you would never find anywhere else, you know, that people might not buy for themselves when they go grocery shop and then they discover like something really cool and really useful and really delicious. So it's, it's nice, but we are really lucky.
Like I said, with HomeGoods and that's the other thing too, because we see it sell through, we also realize like, Hey, people do shop at HomeGoods for food stuff. You know, like there actually is a huge customer base, you know, that's going to HomeGoods and checking out all the stuff they have in the grocery aisles in the section. That's really cool.
It's a great call out. Cause yeah, you wouldn't necessarily think that, but like, I know a lot of founders and operators who are in the food space where they might be like, Oh yeah, I haven't really like seen that or even met buyers there too. Right.
We go to these conferences and it's not like a consideration. It's never like a top target for people, but I do think that if you're, if like the pricing is right, your margins are, you know, they they're okay. And yeah, sure.
Why not? HomeGoods has, you know, it's nationwide. It's, I would consider it a big box, even though it's, you know, it's considered like a value store or a discount store, but it was great for us as like an initial, you know,
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