Nestle Maggi launches barbeque-flavoured Korean noodles

Entering the hot and spicy Korean noodles space is instant noodles giant Nestle Maggi.

Zaheer Khan, a corporate chef at Nestle India’s product innovation and renovation department posted photographs of the Maggi Korean Noodles on LinkedIn.

The My Nestle website (the company’s D2C arm) lists two flavours: BBQ Chicken and BBQ Veg. They are priced at Rs 60 and Rs 55 respectively for a 90g pack.

“Korean Noodles from the house of MAGGI, wherein fiery Chilli meets a unique barbeque flavour, to give a taste that truly packs a punch!” reads the description of the product on the D2C website.

Korean food has taken off big time in India since the Coronavirus lockdowns. “The volume of just Korean noodles increased by 162% in 2020 and by 178.0% in 2021,” writes Elle India citing data from the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Please note that ramen almost refers to Japanese noodles while ramyeone is a nod to Korean instant noodles. Lack of awareness means most people use ramen for both Japanese and Korean noodles.

Nestle is not the only global FMCG company to enter this space. There is Unilever’s Knorr that in the recent past launched Knorr Korean Meal Pot.

Observe Maggi Korean Noodles’ packaging, and you will observe a fiery red which has become the go-to colour for anything packaged instant Korean Noodles in the market because of the spicy flavour.

Samyang is the most popular brand in this colour. Maggi will have to compete with it, Knorr, and other incumbents such as Nongshim, Nissin, Daebak, MasterChow, among others.

Cover image from Zaheer Khan's LinkedIn post.