Kimchi for the shelf
A 400 g tub, packed on day seven in West Flanders and delivered chilled. Raw and unpasteurised, in a standard and a vegan version — a fermented line with a maker your customers can actually name.
What goes on the shelf
| Line | What it is |
|---|---|
| Kimchi | The standard recipe — whole napa leaves layered by hand, with the seafood depth of the classic version. Contains seafood; full specification on request. |
| Vegan kimchi | Apple and pear where the fish sauce would be. No known allergens, gluten- and lactose-free, 100% plant-based, 41 kcal per 100 g. |
| Formats | 400 g for the shelf. 1, 2 and 5 kg if you also run a kitchen, a counter or a traiteur alongside the shop. |
Where it belongs, and for how long
- Chilled, at 4 °C or below. This is not a pantry pickle and it must never go on an ambient shelf. It is never pasteurised, so the cold chain is the whole product.
- Three months from packing, chilled and unopened. You get it in the week it was made, so the shelf life you receive is the shelf life it has.
- Rotate properly. It is a live product: it does not fail on a date, it gets steadily sourer. Older stock is still perfectly good and some customers prefer it — but sell oldest first or your shelf drifts out of the flavour you sold them on.
- Two homes that both work. The Asian or world-food fridge, where people come looking for it, and the fresh or deli aisle next to the other live ferments, where people find it by accident. Shops that run both usually sell more from the second.
Worth telling staff, because it comes up: a tub that has puffed slightly or fizzes when opened has not gone wrong. It is fermenting, which is what it is supposed to do. Kept cold and pressed under its own brine, it is fine.
What actually makes someone pick it up
Imported kimchi is the competition, and it spends five to nine weeks at sea before it reaches a Belgian shelf — it was at its best somewhere around week one. Ours is packed on day seven and driven out the same week. That is the difference a customer can taste, and it is the line worth putting on a shelf-talker.
- Made here. West Flanders, a weekly batch, a family recipe. Local provenance on a Korean product is unusual enough to be worth saying out loud.
- Raw and alive. Never pasteurised, no preservatives — the factual claim, and the one that separates it from the shelf-stable jars.
- A vegan line that needs no asterisk. No known allergens, gluten- and lactose-free, genuinely plant-based rather than a compromise version.
- Two price points from one delivery if you take the 400 g for the shelf and a larger format for a counter or kitchen.
Ordering and delivery
One batch a week. Seven days' notice minimum — order a week ahead of the date you want it and we confirm the delivery day when we quote. Most shops settle into a fixed weekly or fortnightly drop, and it stays flexible either way.
Delivered by road from West Flanders, chilled. Benelux and neighbouring regions; tell us where it is going and we will tell you honestly whether we can serve it well. The minimum order depends on the destination and the formats, and we confirm it with your quote.
Your own label
Your label on the tub, a larger format, or a spice level tuned to your customers — all worth a conversation before you assume the answer is no. On request.
A sample first
We send one before anyone commits to anything. Taste it against whatever is on your shelf now; that comparison is the whole argument.
Tell us the shop and the volume
A rough brief is enough to start. You get pricing, formats and a sample before anything is agreed.
Running a kitchen as well? Formats, storage and ordering for kitchens →