Natto is close to a "complete food," with protein, dietary fiber, and functional components generated during fermentation. Demand for health foods surged with COVID-19, but many consumers still find natto unfamiliar. Our role is to make this good food something anyone can experience without burden.
Pulmuone, which has pioneered the domestic natto market, is attempting another change more than 20 years after launching its products. Baek Hye-jung, marketing headquarters CM (Category Manager, Head of Team), and Kwon Do-young, researcher (Head of Team), whom we met at Pulmuone headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 20th, said they are making various attempts to expand natto into a "daily health food."
Pulmuone natto currently holds a dominant No. 1 position with about 80% market share as of last year. Followers have emerged, but Pulmuone has led growth by expanding the market itself. Pulmuone's natto business began at Pulmuone Health & Living in 2005 and was transferred to Pulmuone Foods in 2006, gaining full momentum. It now offers a total of 32 products and is streamlining its portfolio through continuous renewals and new launches.
Growth has been steep. Consumer-price-basis natto sales rose an average of 6.7% annually from 2021 to 2023, then surged 19.6% on average annually from 2023 to 2025. Considering sales volume over the past three years, it means consumers in Korea eat more than one Pulmuone natto per person per year.
Baek said, "Since COVID-19, interest in protein and health foods has risen, and demand for natto has increased along with it," adding, "However, many consumers are still not familiar with it, so we judged it important to increase 'experience.'" That judgment carried over into product strategy.
This year's new products from Pulmuone are characterized by a "change in format." The three items—"squeezable natto," "natto shake," and "natto enzyme"—completely break away from the conventional fresh natto form. In particular, the squeezable natto focused on reducing the "threads (viscosity)" and "odor" that consumers find most inconvenient, while maintaining nutrition.
Head of Team Kwon explained, "The key was applying a strain whose threads break easily," adding, "The shake also uses a strain with easily breaking threads, because if you use a strain whose threads don't break, the powder itself becomes sticky and ruins the texture."
The core of technological competitiveness is the starter culture. Previously, products were developed with external strains, but research began in 2018 to find proprietary starter cultures. Testing about 100 strains, it took six years just to find the optimal strain. The goal, it is said, was to maintain the existing taste and texture while enhancing nutrition. Since 2024, proprietary starter cultures have been applied to all products. The following is a Q&A.
- This year's new products seem to be characterized by controlling natto's unique viscosity or turning it into powder while preserving key components. If you have know-how on maintaining nutritional value despite the format change, please introduce it.
(Head of Team Kwon) "Pulmuone holds more than 20 natto strains. We tested them all. The aim was to find a strain whose amount of threads is similar to conventional natto but whose threads break easily. When the strain changes, the smell changes too. We excluded those strains as well. It took six months just to find a suitable strain that forms threads well but breaks easily when lifted. Also, vitamins are extremely sensitive to heat, so to minimize vitamin loss, when making the sauce for the squeezable natto, we completely cool the sauce first and then add the vitamins at the end."
- What prompted the planning of this year's new products?
(Baek CM) "The COVID-19 pandemic was the turning point. A lifestyle that values health and ensures protein intake took hold starting with the pandemic. Natto is good for gut health and rich in protein, but it's also true that the existing square container is not very easy to eat from. So we thought about what might be a format that suits natto while also being easy to eat. In addition to the squeezable form, when connected with the trend of prioritizing health, we thought shakes and enzymes were suitable. We also added vitamins so consumers can conveniently supplement nutrition, in that same vein."
- Pulmuone has developed a variety of natto-related products over the past 20 years. What did you focus on?
(Baek CM) "Korean consumers like natto that doesn't have a musty smell and has a smooth texture. The amount of threads and viscosity also need to be ample. Pulmuone natto's signature product is the one named 'Power of Threads,' and soy sauce with mustard or wasabi sauce is standard. But people unfamiliar with natto said the seasoning in this product was too strong.
So one of the products that came out was "green onion soy sauce natto." We combined a "green onion soy sauce" with soy sauce and green onions, and toppings of finely chopped green onions. We got the idea from a scene in the "Crayon Shin-chan" animation where Shin-chan adds green onions when eating natto. This product is clearly liked by "natto beginners." Pulmuone natto products have undergone three renewals in just the past five years to suit Korean consumers' preferences.
I think to grow the natto market, we need to make it so that people who don't like natto come to like it. We are focusing on product development in that context."
- The average annual growth rate surged between 2023 and 2025. Beyond lineup expansion, what do you think was the secret to growth?
(Head of Team Kwon) "Natto is produced in batches of hundreds of thousands, but consumers eat just one. So the same quality must come out no matter where it is made. Precision control technology is crucial so fermentation proceeds uniformly in the fermentation room without temperature deviations or dead zones.
Also, if the temperature drops too much when boiling soybeans and inoculating them with bacteria, fermentation doesn't proceed properly. Inoculation and packing must be done quickly while still hot. How quickly and accurately this process is handled determines quality. Pulmuone uses IoT technology to precisely manage the temperature and oxygen concentration in fermentation rooms and continues to invest so the same results come out across multiple rooms.
Most important of all is the raw material: soybeans. We separately select and manage soybeans for natto, and we use top-grade soybeans in domestic soybean natto products. If soybeans unsuitable for fermentation are used, both the taste and texture of natto collapse, so we use only beans that have passed a seven-step verification, including fermentation suitability. Another advantage of Pulmuone is managing quality by using just one strain and unifying it. Only when raw material control and fermentation technology mesh together does stable quality result."
- How would you like Pulmuone natto to be remembered by consumers?
(Head of Team Kwon) "In studying natto, I thought, 'Is there any food this good?' To soybeans' advantages of high protein and dietary fiber, fermentation adds easier digestion and various functional components. It also includes components that can only be obtained from fermented foods, like vitamin K2. K2 plays an important role in helping calcium in the blood be absorbed into bones where it's needed. Natto's threads help moisturize the skin. Because a single pack lets you take in a variety of nutrients, I think natto is close to a 'complete food.' I hope more consumers learn this value and make it a food they consume daily."
- What is your future product strategy?
(Baek CM) "We want to make Pulmuone natto the benchmark for a 'daily health food.' We hope it becomes the product consumers naturally think of when choosing something for their health. Pulmuone natto will expand its lineup in two tracks: products that emphasize function and products that emphasize taste. For consumers already familiar with natto, we'll enable more focus on functional aspects, and for those not familiar, we'll make it approachable without burden. We want more people to consume natto as part of their daily routine."