Dookki's tteokbokki among other dishes available at the brand's restaurants / Courtesy of Dareun
SEONGNAM, Gyeonggi Province — Tteokbokki, a rice cake dish simmered in red-hot pepper paste, was at first notorious for its chewy texture that confused non-Koreans. Some disgruntled consumers complained how they were supposed to eat something with the consistency of a tire.
Dareun Chief Marketing Officer and Dookki Founder Kim Kwan-hoon / Courtesy of Dareun
That was the reality for what many Koreans consider a comfort food and one of the most representative street foods here. Tteokbokki thus raises a critical question: if it is so deeply rooted in Korean society and achieved transgenerational fame, how does it fare abroad?
Kim Kwan-hoon, chief marketing officer at Dareun which operates tteokbokki franchise restaurant brand Dookki here and outside Korea, understood the challenge. His answer was to add grandeur to the food, camouflaging the problematic mouthfeel with culinary ideas and presenting a dining experience so that the complaint becomes an overstatement.
