'Cheat' ramyun sells one pack every 9 seconds — and it took 6 months to get there

Choi Hae-uk (left) and Han Jeong-ju, both processed food team leads at BGF Retail, pose for a photo at the company's headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. [BGF Retail]

"The development process was incredibly difficult. Not a single part of it was easy."

Han Jeong-ju and Choi Hae-uk, processed food team leads at BGF Retail, paused briefly on Tuesday when asked what was hardest about developing "Cheat," CU's new signature ramyun line. Then they laughed. "Everything was difficult — from development all the way through production," they said.

"Cheat" is CU's own ramyun brand. The line launched last month with a Real Cream Buldak flavor, followed by a Rich Shrimp Soup Noodle. Cumulative sales have topped 400,000 units — an average of 9,500 packs a day, or 397 an hour. At its peak, the line outsold Shin Ramyun's bagged noodles.

The product name may be "Cheat," but there were no shortcuts in making it. The concept — taking a familiar flavor and adding one decisive twist — proved far harder to execute than it sounds.

The team drew inspiration from SNS trends and CU's internal sales data. The key was choosing a flavor consumers already knew well. They zeroed in on Carbonara Buldak, the top-selling cup ramyun in the country, and took a cue from a popular "modisumer" recipe in which fans stir in Bbangppare ice cream. The result was the first ramyun in South Korea to come packaged with real milk.

Including actual milk was not the original plan. Adding a raw ingredient rather than a powder increases the package size and complicates production. The team had to develop new weight and size specifications for sterilized milk suited to the product. Only two manufacturers nationwide could produce it.

Taste was everything. After dozens of test rounds, the team concluded that real milk was simply the best option. "At first we considered using skim milk powder," Han said. "But the more we focused on getting the flavor right, we ultimately found nothing could beat real milk."

Cumulative sales of the CU "Cheat" ramyun series have surpassed 400,000 units, averaging 9,500 packs a day and 397 an hour. [BGF Retail]

The Rich Shrimp Soup Noodle got its own twist. To deepen the flavor of a classic shrimp soup ramyun, the team added whole shrimp. They started with a modest amount to keep costs in check, but kept raising the shrimp content in pursuit of better taste and aroma. The finishing shrimp powder ultimately contains about 10 percent whole shrimp, and shrimp ingredients were worked into the noodles themselves as well.

Even after settling on the ingredients, reaching the final product took considerable time. Most ramyun products take three to five sample rounds to find their direction, but "Cheat" went through dozens of iterations. "A typical product development cycle wraps up in three to four months — 'Cheat' took more than six," Choi said. "We were eating more than 20 types of ramyun a day during testing. By the end, just looking at ramyun made me feel full."

All that effort came down to one goal: building a product that lasts. "We wanted to open a new market — one where ramyun comes with real ingredients," Han said. "We put in the work because we wanted to make a ramyun that would keep selling for years, no matter who was running the team or what generation was buying it."

Beyond the sales numbers, consumers have been sharing their own "golden combination" recipes online — adding tteokbokki and cheese to the noodles, or pairing them with other CU specialty products. "Consumers are coming up with combinations we never thought of," Choi said. "We keep checking the recipes they post, and we'll use them as a reference when we develop new products."

The team is also planning to release a new ramyun in the second half of this year, with the same target in mind: a mega-hit. "After more than 10 years in food development, my desire to create a mega-hit product hasn't changed," Choi said. "I want our team to put out something people will remember — and remember exactly who made it."

CU's "Cheat" signature ramyun series [BGF Retail]

siuu@heraldcorp.com