Seoul-based food company Kurly is placing two frozen udon dishes from chef Jung Ho Young's Udon Kaden restaurant into U.S. retail stores, marking the brand's latest expansion of its chef-collaboration frozen meal lineup in the American market. The products — Signature Udon and Chilled Udon — are now available at H Mart, Jagalchi, Mega Mart, and other retail partners, as well as online at Kurlyglobal.com.

The Chef Behind the Brand

Jung Ho Young is one of Korea's most prominent Japanese-cuisine chefs, with more than two decades of experience cooking Japanese food. He trained at the Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka before returning to Korea to open the izakaya Kaden and, later, Udon Kaden in Seoul's Yeonhui-dong neighborhood. A second location operates on Jeju Island. American audiences may recognize Jung from Netflix's "Culinary Class Wars" Season 2 and the long-running Korean series "Chef & My Fridge." Udon Kaden built its reputation on noodles with a taut, bouncy bite and a broth made from kombu, anchovy, and smoked mackerel flakes — and has drawn steady lines in Seoul for nearly a decade.

The two frozen products translate that restaurant identity for the home kitchen. Signature Udon pairs fresh-frozen noodles with a dashi-based broth finished with bonito flakes; noodles cook in 8 to 9 minutes while the broth heats separately in 1 to 2 minutes. Chilled Udon takes a contrasting approach: cold noodles topped with a concentrated dashi-rich sauce, grated radish, and additional toppings, delivering a denser umami punch and chewier texture than the warm version.

Proven Demand, New Market

Both dishes carry measurable consumer validation from Korea, where Kurly first launched them on its domestic marketplace. Signature Udon — sold in Korea as Original Udon — has accumulated nearly 20,000 customer reviews, while the full Udon Kaden product line has surpassed 50,000 combined reviews on Kurly's platform. That kind of pre-market data gives U.S. retail buyers a clearer demand signal than a typical new-product launch.

The Udon Kaden rollout extends a model Kurly has refined since 2017: partnering directly with chefs and restaurants to convert their signature menus into frozen meals for retail distribution. Kurly USA previously introduced Mokran, the Chinese-cuisine brand of chef Lee Yeon Bok, which has sold more than 7 million units in Korea. Yun Seoul, from chef Kim Do Yun, is also joining the U.S. lineup. "Udon Kaden is a defining example of what we do: a chef's recipe and a restaurant's identity, thoughtfully recreated as a frozen meal," said Ryan Chung, Head of Global Business at Kurly. "Starting with Asian grocery retailers, we will keep widening the places where American consumers can bring Korea's chefs and restaurant brands into their everyday cooking."

The strategy mirrors broader trends in frozen foodservice innovation, where restaurant-branded retail products have gained traction as operators look for additional revenue channels beyond the dining room. For Asian grocery retailers in particular, chef-branded frozen imports from Korea represent a growing category, as Korean food culture continues to expand its footprint in the U.S. market.

To support the launch, Chef Jung hosted in-store tastings at four California locations on August 22–23 — H Mart Buena Park and H Mart Irvine NorthPark in Southern California, and Jagalchi in Daly City and Mega Mart in East Palo Alto in Northern California. Food & Beverage Magazine has covered the rising wave of Korean chef-branded products entering U.S. retail channels.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.