The Sobaba Hwanggeum Holic booth at the 2026 Daegu Chimaek Festival [CJ CheilJedang]
The Sobaba Hwanggeum Holic booth at the 2026 Daegu Chimaek Festival [CJ CheilJedang]

CJ CheilJedang said its Sobaba Hwanggeum Holic brand sold about 10,000 sets ahead of schedule at the 2026 Daegu Chimaek Festival, which ran from July 1 through July 5.

Sobaba was the only processed-chicken brand among vendors at this year's festival. It offered set menus paired with three dipping sauces, and word of mouth drove daily visitor counts to a record high on the weekend. Visitors said the chicken tasted like delivery food and held its own against restaurant brands.

Sobaba launched in 2023 as a product under CJ CheilJedang's premium meal-kit brand Gourmet before spinning off as an independent brand last month. The company has enlisted singer-actor Hwang Min-hyun as its brand model and is running a digital marketing campaign built around a "one in a million" concept. Sobaba is also expanding its offline presence by selling Sobaba sets at Incheon Munhak Baseball Stadium for the remainder of the regular baseball season.

Sobaba Hwanggeum Holic comes in two varieties — boneless and bone-in — and surpassed 10 billion won ($6.43 million) in cumulative sales within three months of its launch. A CJ CheilJedang official said the company aims to strengthen its position as a chicken specialist brand that competes with restaurant chicken, going beyond the limitations of frozen chicken.


siuu@heraldcorp.com