Korean Consumers Urged to ‘Come and Taste’ Burrito Made with U.S. Medium Grain

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- A new foodservice menu promotion featuring a chicken burrito made with U.S. medium grain rice launched earlier this fall as a result of the partnership between USA Rice and Café Amoje, a take-out foodservice chain here.  

Café Amoje is run by Amoje Food, a top Korean foodservice group that operates franchise restaurants, business hotel buffets, and food courts in Incheon International Airport, amusement parks, and baseball stadiums.  

“Amoje Food is a big fan of U.S. medium grain rice,” said Jim Guinn, USA Rice director of USA Rice Asia Promotion Programs.  “Its family buffet franchise launched new rice menus with promotional support from USA Rice in 2016 and has been using U.S. medium grain consistently ever since.”

For this latest promotion, the chicken burrito featuring U.S. medium grain was delivered daily to 15 Café Amoje stores nationwide.  To advertise the new menu item, promotional materials and name tags with the USA Rice logo were displayed at each store, and staff conducted taste tests with customers.  In addition to on-site promotion, news of the new burrito “filled with delicious ingredients” was broadcast across social media channels.

“More than 85 percent of customers surveyed said the new burrito made with U.S. medium grain rice was so good that, in the future, they would likely purchase other menu items featuring U.S. rice,” said Guinn.  

During the promotion period, rice usage at Café Amoje increased by approximately 3.5 times from the prior month – in total, a little less than one ton of U.S. medium grain.  Based on these positive results, Amoje Food is considering using U.S. medium grain for its other operations.