Evolving into a smart cooking appliance that can communicate

Ramen is the most popular menu choice in Hangang Park, along with chicken, during the summer. People’s interest has increased as scenes of boiling ramen in machines at convenience stores have appeared several times on entertainment programs.
With the growing popularity of boiling packaged ramen, a special container called an ‘instant cooker,’ or ‘ramen cooker,’ is being used.
There are more than three Korean companies that manufacture instant cookers (ramen cookers) that can be seen in Hangang Park and convenience stores.
IDEA’s ‘LAZO’ is a first-generation instant ramen cooker, and is maintaining No. 1 position in the domestic market.

Designed for anyone to easily boil and eat
LAZO is an instant cooker. Customers can boil ramen by putting it in an exclusive paper container and placing it in the machine. All you have to do is just press the button. The average cooking time is about four minutes. “Warm water maintained at around 80°C comes out of the cooker and starts cooking. The aluminum coating inside the paper reacts to induction and quickly boils the water,” explained the CEO of the company Lee Sang-cheol about the process of boiling ramen in LAZO. LAZO is a product combining the functions of a water purifier and an induction.
IDEA’s LAZO is highly preferred in places with limited space, such as convenience stores. At first glance, it is mistaken for a regular water purifier, and the design was carefully considered. More than 2,000 units of LAZO are installed in convenience stores, PC rooms, etc., nationwide, including 7-Eleven. CEO Lee explains, “Customers can cook even in goshiwons – accommodations for students studying for exams ― or commercial facilities where it is difficult to install a gas range by using LAZO,” adding “the number of installed units is expected to soon exceed 3,000.”
IDEA has focused on safety and after-sales management since the early days of product distribution. It has shortened the after-sales service (AS) time as much as possible for convenience store owners who operate 24 hours per day. It has made sure that the time from receiving a breakdown to repairing it does not exceed one day. It has operated a call center since the early days of the business and has established 27 service centers nationwide.

Evolving into a smart cooking appliance that can communicate
LAZO has also entered overseas markets where ramen consumption is high. More than 1,000 units of LAZO were exported to the United States, Mexico, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines, respectively. Currently, it is entering the Japanese and European markets. “East Asia has something in common in that it has developed cuisine using noodles, and demand is occurring in areas where convenience stores are developed,” remarked CEO Lee.
According to the World Instant Noodles Association (WINA), Koreans consume 73.7 units per person per year (as of 2017), ranking first in the world, followed by Vietnam (53.5 units), and Nepal (51.1 units).
“The growing market for home meal replacements (HMRs), including ramen, is also an opportunity. We plan to expand our product line that is easy to cook by collaborating with various food companies. We will create a cooking platform that can be used as easily as a microwave oven,” remarked CEO Lee about the company’s future plans.