There is a family secret behind UCLA alumna Lauryn Chun’s booming kimchi business, but she and her mother aren’t telling.
“I cannot tell you,” Chun’s mother, Young Ja, said. “But we add something secret.”
Chun decided she would make kimchi – a fermented dish made with seasoned vegetables – available to a wider range of consumers, stretching beyond the Korean community.
Following the success of her mother’s 24-year-old Garden Grove restaurant, Chun, who graduated from UCLA in 1993 with a degree in political science and history, started her own kimchi business about four years ago. Her company has since been featured in several noteworthy outlets, including O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine; Elle magazine and The New York Times.
Chun’s experience in the food and wine industries led her to develop Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi. The business’ name is derived from that of her mother’s restaurant Jang Mo Gip, which means “mother-in-law’s house” in Korean. MILKimchi is now sold both separately in jars and in the restaurant Jang Mo Gip.
MILKimchi began in New York City, where Chun was working. She went to trade shows, selling the product outside of the restaurant. Since then, the business has grown to the point where consumers can purchase kimchi right from the company’s website or from retailers such as Whole Foods.
Chun’s products enable kimchi fans and even those who have never tried it before to make their own brined, fermented vegetables. Her products include a do-it-yourself kimchi making kit, Korean chile pepper flakes and prepared jars of radish and cabbage kimchi.
“People just don’t understand what kimchi is until they’ve tried it,” Chun said. “It’s incredible to get orders from remote parts of the country … like somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma or Alaska.”
Chun said MILKimchi is a way of bringing the Korean delicacy to a larger group of consumers through retail stores and the Internet.
She also explained that kimchi is not only tasty but nutritious as well, due to the probiotics contained in the fermented vegetables, making it a good fit in the increasingly popular vegan and raw food lifestyles.
Chun said one of the keys to MILKimchi’s success is the close relationship she shares with her mother, who oversees production on the west coast.
“We have love,” her mother said. “That’s why we don’t have any problems (or anything) like that.”
In an effort to educate consumers about kimchi, Chun also published “The Kimchi Cookbook” in 2012, complete with recipes and ideas for incorporating kimchi into other styles of cooking as well as Korean-style dishes. Her recipes range from “Korean Radish Top Kimchi” to “French Breakfast Radish Kimchi,” indicating the variety of options to which kimchi lends itself.
In terms of authenticity, Chun said others who also grew up exposed to Korean food have approved of the taste of her MILKimchi products.
“The best compliment is when I meet somebody who’s Korean and they taste the kimchi and they say that it tastes like something that their grandmother made,” Chun said.
Anna Schmidt, who works with Chun, said continuing to attend trade shows throughout the year and getting into more retailers will be essential for growing the business.
“I think (the key) is more accounts, getting into more stores throughout the country,” Schmidt said. “We’re not as strong of a presence in the Midwest or the Massachusetts-Boston area or in the mid-Atlantic either. … We definitely want to grow and reach people there.”
Going forward, Chun said she would like kimchi to become part of the American food culture, just as other ethnic food products have gained popularity and become staples.
“My hope with the brand is to reach more people and have more people eat kimchi and have kimchi become part of the American dialect in food,” Chun said. “Somebody had to be the first person to introduce salsa, somebody had to be the first person to introduce hummus, and I think that kimchi should be in those categories and really be something that is part of the American table.”