Posts Tagged ‘boing boing’

Good things…

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

champagne

Once upon a time (last month) we were tootling along happily… keeping up with blogs, shipping orders and accounting and such. We had settled into the systems we had created and were getting into a general groove. Suddenly the grooviness was blown to bits by two extremely fantastic events:

1. We received a very nice review from Xeni on Boing Boing. We cannot say enough good things about this smart, successful blog and its down-to-earth editors. And the good things they said about Granny Choe’s kimchi landed us a month’s worth of orders in a single day (and really kept us hustling).

2. A week later we received an order from the primary distributor for Whole Foods Market in California. This is a partnership we’ve been working on since the end of last year, so while it was not a total surprise, it was about 3 months earlier than we had anticipated… and when you’ve been climbing a hill for a while just staring at the ground, then you finally look up and realize you’ve reached the top, it’s astounding… and a little anxiety-inducing.

I wouldn’t say we are pessimists, but we are definitely realists, so we like to wait a bit before popping the cork on the champagne in case something falls through… but the mere fact that we’re still in business after a year and a half (during a big, bad recession), and that so much good has come our way is reason enough to celebrate for now. So dearest kimchi fans, friends and family- thank you so very much for your support of Granny Choe’s Kimchi Co.!

Photo courtesy of oskay via CC 2.0

Granny Choe’s on Boing Boing!

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

boingboing

Guess who just got a glowing review from Xeni on BoingBoing.net today? Granny Choe’s Kimchi Co. Wooohooo! And… Yikes! We’ve never had this many orders in a single day before.

PS: Also, in case we haven’t explained this already- Boing Boing is brilliant and wonderful, and is one of the top five most popular blogs IN THE WORLD. Yowza.

PPS: Also also in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a little stop motion video that we made a while back that Mark picked up on Boing Boing.

Random thought of the (Mon)day: Post Office

Monday, October 26th, 2009

kimchi robot

Every time we go to the post office and they ask us if our kimchi shipments contain “anything that is liquid, fragile, perishable or potentially hazardous” I have to smile for two reasons. 1) Answer to the first three is most definitely a yes, and I’d say kimchi is potentially hazardous too due to the pressure buildup inside the jars… and the sheer stink of it. 2) Man, did we pick the worst product to make a mail order business out of or what? Then again, maybe it’s for the best because we certainly stand out in a sea of practical companies shipping dry, shelf-stable, unbreakable and safe products to their customers. Hmm, crazy or brilliant? Hard to say.

PS: Just signed off on the dream-come-true guestblogging gig at Boing Boing and we will be returning to our regular programming here on the Kimchimonger Newsblog.

Kimchi 101 at Kraut Fest 2009

Monday, September 21st, 2009
Granny Choe instructs the next generation of kimchimongers. Photo by Eating LA.

Granny Choe instructs the next generation of kimchimongers. Photo by Eating LA.

Whether it’s a trade show or a networking meeting, we love the hum of energy before and during an event, but we’ve learned that even the most fleeting of adrenaline spikes causes us to crash afterwards for what feels like (or may indeed be) weeks on end. So here we are returning from hibernation (albeit a little bleary eyed) to bring you a few highlights from our kimchi class at Machine Project’s Kraut Fest 2009:

*A roomful of young (and young at heart) people who love kimchi = Delightful!

*A roomful of delightful people smashing produce to bits = Should have packed a bullhorn. And lab goggles.

*And yes, we did get to meet Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder. The best part? He offered Mama Choe an opportunity to be a guest blogger on Boing Boing next month. She has solemnly sworn to not write about kimchi the entire time.

For more lucid recaps of the kimchi class, check out the Kraut Fest write ups on Urban Spoon featured blog, Eating LA and on Delicious Coma (a foodbuzz featured publisher). Mark Frauenfelder also posted a link on Boing Boing to his Kraut Fest photos.

Many, many thanks to the lovely folks over at Machine Project in LA for including us in Kraut Fest 2009, and for putting together other cool classes like a monster prop and costume workshop that we are dying to go to. Kimchi-monster suit, here we come.

Granny Choe mentioned on Boing Boing!

Friday, September 4th, 2009

The kimchi class that Granny Choe is leading as part of Kraut Fest 2009 at Machine Project in LA this Sunday is SOLD OUT. Probably thanks to the mention on Boing Boing… Yes, that Boing Boing. The one that gets over 5 million unique visitors per month. The one that’s on Technorati’s list of most influential blogs. The one that’s ranked in the top 5 most-visited blogs on the web. Wowee.

Someone just told us about the Boing Boing mention (Thanks, Andres) and we are quite excited. Like, multiple exclamation points excited (but we don’t want to appear juvenile, so we are making every effort to contain ourselves). We love Boing Boing. We follow them on Twitter. Boing Boing co-founder, Mark Frauenfelder, said he’s “really looking forward to learning how to make kimchi from Granny Choe.” We are feeling a little starstruck.

Even though registration is full for hands-on participation in the class, you can still come down to hang out and observe. Should be fun. We are getting all amped up. Hope to see you there…

!!!!!!!!!!!!!