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Korean food company Yogiyo forges key creative partnership after Dragons’ Den success

Following a successful appearance on last night’s BBC TV show Dragons’ Den, Korean food company Yogiyo, is now working with brand and design agency Ziggurat Brands to create a new look for the range.

With Condé Nast Traveller recently declaring Korean cuisine to be the food trend of 2015, Peter Jones has invested £50,000 in Yogiyo, a London-based husband and wife venture, which has already secured a Sainsbury’s listing for its range.

Ben Ansah and Sue Youn X, met and married in Korea where her parents ran a restaurant on the East Coast. They returned to the UK keen to bring the tastes and excitement of Korean street food to the UK market.

The couple began selling Korean food at street markets in London, then started selling sauces they used in their cooking and even managed to get some of the sauces into Selfridges.

Ansah said: “That was the point we knew we had hit on something special,

“But we knew that to take it any further we would need some help. Specifically we needed endorsement, expertise and investment, and so we applied to Dragons’ Den.”

He continued: “Entering the Den was nerve wracking, but also fun and exciting. And to win investment from Peter Jones, who is of course famous for helping turn Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae Sauce into a nationwide phenomenon, was a dream come true.”

The £50,000 investment will be spent on branding, the Yogiyo website and buying ingredients from Korea. For the branding part the Yogiyo team turned to Ziggurat Brands, an agency with a long track record of helping entrepreneurial food brands become household names, from Bottlegreen to Higgidy Pies and, most recently, Mello.

Ansah said: “We needed an agency that could make our products stand out in a crowded world foods segment,

“Crucially, messages on the products needed to be easy to understand, offering a familiar name and clear usage instructions whilst still using the Korean name and being identifiably Korean.”

The solution from Ziggurat uses toned down colours inspired by Korean silk to reflect the premium brand, while retaining the original branding and Korean folk art designed by the couple’s close family friend and designer Leon Geernaert, who was fundamental in creating Yogiyo’s initial look.

Alison Taylor, Director at Ziggurat Brands, comments: “We have introduced a soft and friendly colour palette which will resonate with the audience. At the same time, the new packaging explains how consumers can use the product, and draws attention to its function as a marinade or sauce for example.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .