[Edaily Reporter Kyung Gye-young] “At first, I didn’t even make the proposal because I assumed it would be rejected. I never imagined that ‘Haetban’ would release a collaborative product—especially one related to rice—for a specific retail channel.”

CJ CheilJedang’s “Haetban,” the top-selling instant rice brand, has partnered with a convenience store chain to launch a collaborative product. The star of the show is “Perilla Oil Haetban,” released by CU, a convenience store chain operated by #BGF Retail. This marks the first time an instant rice product has been developed exclusively for a specific retail channel.

The fact that “Haetban”—once considered an “impregnable fortress”—has released a collaborative product utilizing instant rice also signifies the significant growth potential of the convenience store market. The year-over-year sales growth rate for instant rice products at CU is on an upward trend, projected at 15.6% in 2023, 22.9% in 2024, and 24.7% in 2025.

When CJ CheilJedang suggested, “We can create collaborative products even with Haetban,” Hwang Ji-seon, Team Leader of the Processed Foods Team at BGF Retail’s Merchandising Division, immediately thought of the rice used in boxed lunches, triangle rice balls, and gimbap—which she had tasted at the factory while overseeing the home meal replacement (HMR) category for several years. The rice used in gimbap is seasoned with sesame oil, sesame seeds, and salt.

In a recent interview with Edaily, Team Leader Hwang said, “Every time I ate freshly cooked rice at the factory, it was so delicious that I’d long thought it would be tasty even if sold on its own,” adding, “I wanted to make it delicious enough to eat on its own, without seaweed.”

CU and CJ CheilJedang agreed to recreate the flavor of gimbap rice for their collaborative product, but the process was far from smooth. Just as with gimbap, they initially considered adding vinegar to the rice but excluded it to avoid the risk of the rice being mistaken for spoiled rice. They also couldn’t include sesame seeds due to potential issues with the production equipment. They also conducted numerous tests comparing sesame oil and perilla oil. Initially, they considered a “Hae-ban” rice product made with sesame oil, and they even experimented with rice mixed with both sesame and perilla oils. Ultimately, after careful consideration, they settled on perilla oil, anticipating it would be more popular with consumers.

Meanwhile, the project—which began last September—had moved past the initial launch target of the first quarter and into the second quarter. Team Leader Hwang expressed satisfaction, stating, “Since this was our first white rice product made with added seasoning, it took time to verify that it could be produced safely,” but added, “We’ve managed to recreate the exact flavor we envisioned.”

Although no major marketing campaigns have been launched yet and it has only been about half a month since the release, reactions are already pouring in on social media. Videos showing people heating the perilla oil Haetban and using it to make kimbap without any additional seasoning, or cracking a raw egg into the perilla oil Haetban, mixing it, and then drizzling soy sauce to make soy sauce egg rice, have gone viral. Since the Perilla Oil Haetban was launched on the 3rd, sales of instant rice at CU stores through the 11th increased by 23.6% compared to the same period last year. Team Leader Hwang emphasized that the product aligns with current trends, noting, “Among the 20s and 30s generation—who ate school lunches during their student days—interest in ‘analog’ nostalgia is growing, leading to a culture of packing their own lunches in cute containers and sharing photos of them online.”

Introducing “Perilla Oil Haetban” as a product in a new category called “seasoned rice,” Team Leader Hwang said, “It’s delicious even when eaten plain, but its strong flavor and slight saltiness maximize its taste when mixed with ramen, and it’s also delicious wrapped in seaweed.” She added, “We expect this to open up a new segment in the instant rice market and generate additional sales.”