In the age of COVID-19, people are becoming more interested in eating healthily and maintaining a positive mindset. Rather than the sensational food videos and meat-heavymealsthat overload the stomach we’ve seen in the past, people are now thinking aboutways to keep both their bodies and minds healthy through healthier foods, plant-based diets, and easily digestible meals.
In line with this trend, We met Jeong Won-ho, CEO of ‘Somino,’ a company specializing in probiotic fermentation. Having taken over the family business from his mother—who researched easier-to-digest meals due to his father’s illness—he is now spreading the appeal of a “comfortable life” through the use of soybeans and fermentation. Listen to Somino’s story.
Somino Sominno, a company specializing in fermentation that began by manufacturing food products as nutritional supplements for patients, ranks first in the soy milk category Wadiz. It has conducted three funding campaigns Wadiz, raising over 160 million won in total and garnering support from 2,400 backers through these campaigns alone.
Creating slow food that’s good for my body.
Hello, Mr. Jeong Won-ho. Please introduce yourself.
Hello. I’m Jeong Won-ho, co-founder of Somino. Somino is a company specializing in fermentation. My wife and I have taken over the family business that my mother originally ran.
The term “fermented soybean dish” might sound a bit unfamiliar. What inspired your mother to start making fermented soybean dishes?
When my father was diagnosed with cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, he had trouble eating. It wasn’t that he couldn’t chew; rather, his body couldn’t properly process the food once he swallowed it. His condition had deteriorated to the point where the hospital staff told him to “come back once he’s regained his strength.” My mother tried every remedy she could find and gave them all to my father.
The products from Somino when my mother ran the business
After four or five years of ups and downs, my mother discovered a method called “fermented food.” It was easy to digest and was readily absorbed by the body. In fact,many cancer patients in Korea struggle with eating, often vomiting or suffering from malnutrition. Just as my father regained his strength by eating fermented soybeans, I decided to start this initiative to introduce fermented soybeans to as many people as possible.
After that, how did the two co-CEOs come to join Somino?
I used to work for a shipping company. My wife was the first to agree with my mother’s vision, which is how we came to join Somino. Later,she suggested to me,“If something is good for people who are sick, it must be good for everyone else too,” andproposed that “rather than limiting fermented foods to just those who are sick, we should introduce them to a wider audience.” Naturally, I had already agreed with the work my mother was doing, and because I shared her sincerity, I decided to join Somino as well.
Somino's Brand Strategy: Never Disappointing Core Customers
So, after joining the team, did you work hard to spread the word about Somino to more people?
No. In the early days, I think we spent a lot more time thinking abouthow to shape “Somino as a company.” We also worked hardto systematize the technologymy mother had developed. With that in mind, we established an in-house research lab and recruited experts with master’s degrees in probiotics.
I was impressed to hear that you gave serious thought to the question, “How should we build Somino as a company?” What sets Somino apart from other companies?
Since it’s a family business, I felt that. Even we, the second generation, joined the company because we admired our mother’s sincerity and the values that Somino upholds. So, I believed our customers would recognize that as well. Of course, to ensure the company’s survival and to pursue new, better endeavors, we must generate profits. Nevertheless, we are striving to build upon and strengthen Somino’s originalphilosophical foundation—introducing healthy food to as many people as possible—without ever losing sight ofit.
Three generations of the Somino family cooking together
Another thing is that we still make our products with the mindsetthat “my family tried this, loved it, and I want to share it with others.”Just as my mother used to try our products herself, recommend them to my father, and then share them with others, we continue to follow the same approach today: my wife tries the products first, and we only share what we know is good for her health and for our child. Somino creates and distributeshealthy foods that we can trust—products that give you peace of mind both before and after you eat them.
I suppose the way you interact with customers is different from other brands as well.
Yes. The fundamental principle guiding Somino’s decisionsis “never disappointing our core customers.”That’s why hearing existing customers say, “That’s Somino for you,” brings us the greatest joy. We are focusing our resources on retaining our existing customers.
Reviews of Bam Kong Doo Yu, which launched its second crowdfunding campaign Wadiz
After running Somino for about six years, I’ve noticed something. There’s a stage where new customers discover Somino, think it’s great, and get hooked. But then, after a year or two, they start to get a little bored. So they leave for another brand. Later on, some of them come back, realizingthat “there’s no place quite like Somino.”
I believe that’s where true brandingbegins. Customerswhohave experienced other brands and then returned to ourshave a deeper understanding of Somino and a stronger sense of trust in the brandthan those who first fell in love with it. While we haven’t specifically focused on performance marketing or data-driven marketing, I believe that the mindset and efforts we’ve maintained over the years haveultimately led to higher repeat purchase rates.
Achieving 10-fold growth over six years
In 2018, you launched a campaign Wadizfor “Sorry Yogurt,” and this year you ran a crowdfunding campaign for “Chestnut Soy Milk.” From a business operations perspective, what led you to choose crowdfunding?
The reasons for our funding rounds in 2018 and 2020 were different. First of all, when we raised funds in 2018,ourprimarygoal was to gauge market reaction among new customers. We were curious to see how they would respond to Somino, which was also our flagship fermented product at the time.
Somino's "Soyyo" Black Soybean Milk
However, this year’s Night Soy Milk crowdfunding campaign was conducted to raise production funds.Our in-house factory is designed for small-batch, high-variety production. This approach involvesmanufacturing exactly the amount of product based on projected orders to maximize the factory’s production turnover.
However, since our factory couldn’t produce the sterilized black soybean milk we needed, andthe minimum production quantityrequired by external manufacturerswas too high, we faced notonly the burden of initial production costsbut alsothe risk of having to stockpile the product before selling it.We concludedthatit would be difficult for us to distribute or sell the product on our own.
“I needed the initial capital required for mass production, and there were risks associated with inventory and storage. Plus, I was anxious because I had no way of knowing for sure if the product would actually sell well.But when I wondered if there was a way to solve all these issues at once, crowdfunding emerged as the solution.The reason I set such a high target amountof 30 million wonwas to secure 30–40% of the production funds.”
Meeting with an export buyer
The Black Soybean Milk crowdfunding campaign, which you were worried about, raised 90 million won in the first round and 50 million won in the second round. How has Somino changed since the crowdfunding?
I’ve heard from other creators that they get contacted from all over the place. But after the first round of funding for Somino’s Black Soybean Milk ended, I haven’t heard from anyone. (Laughs)
So I was feeling a bit disappointed, but after our second round of crowdfunding, we started receiving a lot of inquiries. As a result, we’ve been able to list our products on many of the distribution platforms we originally wanted to join.Most notably, we’ve secured listings on two major platforms: Market Kurly and Coupang Rocket Delivery.We’realsoin discussions with various other platforms regarding listings, and we’re in talks with buyers about exporting our products.
Additionally, black soybean milk was the first “soy milk” product Somino had ever tried. So, from the brand’s perspective, this offered the advantage of expanding into a new category and reaching new customers.
The international Slow Food movement, which Somino has been involved in for the past four years
What kind of projects is Somino currently working on? I’m also curious about their future plans.
We’re getting ready to launch another crowdfunding campaignWadiz. This time, we’re releasing a product in collaboration with another brand. We plan to unveil our new project on Wadizlater this year.
If you could offer some advice to those preparing to start a business or launch a crowdfunding campaign,
The greatest appeal of crowdfunding isthat it allows you to engage with customers right from the product development stage. The pre-launch process—which includes development, concept planning, pilot production, and product testing—is crucial to the product’s success or failure. To minimize the risk of failure and maximize the chances of success at each stage , it’s essential to listen closely to consumer feedback.Ibelievecrowdfunding is one effective way to involve consumers in this process.
If you ask consumers, “What do you think of this?” after the product is already finished, they don’t really have much to say. That’s because they have no choice in the matter and can only respond with “I like it” or “I don’t like it.” And from the maker’s perspective, that kind of feedback is hard to use for product development. Even if they say it’s bad, you can’t go back and change it at that point. Of course, since production started during the campaign rather than before it, some backers found the delayed shipping inconvenient.
We set our funding goal at 30 million won, but we were really worried about what we would do if we didn’t make it. But seeing that we raised as much as 90 million won, I realizedthat for a product to succeed, it ultimately has to be something customers want and love. That’s why I recommend that other makers keep crowdfunding in mind right from the prototype and pre-production stages. I really wanted to share this with other makers.
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