Potato, Peace & Love — Selling the Ugly Potatoes, Gamja Yuwonji and the Root Company

Potato, Peace & Love — Selling the Ugly Potatoes: Gamja Yuwonji and The Root Company

A group of young people in one region set out to promote local specialties and upcycle discarded produce. The result is Gamja Yuwonji, a local food shop and café.

Interviewer Parc Jinmyoung
Interviewee Kim Jiwoo (CEO, The Root Company)

I only recently learned the secret behind Poca Chip, one of Korea’s best-known potato chips: between May and October, when new-crop potatoes are in season, Poca Chip is the one to pick. In 2022, to support farming communities, Orion began making Poca Chip with new-crop potatoes harvested in potato-growing regions such as Yanggu in Gangwon-do and Boseong in Jeollanam-do. The packaging carries a “new potato” badge instead of “fresh potato” to tell them apart, and these chips are available only in season, from May to October. (The fresh-potato version is mostly made with imported potatoes.) Honestly, how many people check where their potatoes come from when they eat chips?
But there is one potato chip whose origin you can’t help knowing, even if you never try to find out: Popa Chip. Made from misshapen Gangwon-do potatoes, it sells briskly at Gamja Yuwonji (Potato Amusement Park) in Gangneung, Gangwon-do. Besides chips, Gamja Yuwonji offers beer, soap, and a variety of potato dishes. After spending a good while looking around, you get the feeling that the potato, long a symbol of Gangwon-do, is finally getting the treatment its reputation deserves.

Could you briefly introduce Gamja Yuwonji?
Let me start with our parent company, The Root Company. We’re an agri-food impact startup based in Gangwon-do, and we tackle the problems Gangwon-do potato farmers face today through business. We manage the potato value chain, from seed research and cultivation to raw produce and processing, and we run a brand called Gamja Yuwonji. The first floor of Gamja Yuwonji is a deli and local store that introduces and sells Gangwon-do local foods, and the second floor is a kitchen serving a variety of potato-based dishes. It’s a place where you can experience Gangwon-do’s food culture all in one spot.

What led you to make agri-food products from discarded potatoes?
At first, we focused on growing potatoes of the highest quality in Korea, from Danoh and Wangsan varieties of seed potatoes produced in Gangwon-do. While doing business centered on raw produce, I realized how many potatoes get thrown away. The potatoes we usually see in supermarkets typically weigh 120 to 200 grams, with no blemishes and a rounded shape. Potatoes that don’t fit this standard have to be shipped separately or need their own distribution channels. Potatoes that are scarred, misshapen, or too small or too large are considered less marketable, and if they can’t be sold at a good price, they are often discarded at the place of origin.
Potato farmers face many problems, but the one I consider most important is unstable income. I thought that if we could use ugly potatoes, we could turn the labor, time, and money spent on disposal into new revenue and also contribute, to some extent, to solving environmental problems. So we started making agri-food products from upcycled potatoes.

What products do you have?
The most representative are the three flavors of Popa Chip made from ugly potatoes: salt, garlic & butter, and cheese. The kitchen’s menu includes potato soup, potato-eye curry udon, cheese potato hotteok (stuffed pancake), and pork jowl potato pot rice. Our product line isn’t very wide yet, but we plan to launch a potato soup meal kit made with this year’s new-crop potatoes, as well as premium potato chips made with a new potato variety.

What did you pay the most attention to in the space?
I hoped that visitors to Gamja Yuwonji would come away knowing at least one more thing about potatoes. They might discover varieties other than the familiar Sumi potato, or watch the growing process, or even see the plants flower, in the small potato planter bed set up in one corner of Gamja Yuwonji. Potatoes are a familiar ingredient, but I figured that if you asked people what they actually know about potatoes, they wouldn’t have much to say.

Were there any spots or works that you referred to or drew inspiration from when opening Gamja Yuwonji?
I wanted originality, so I deliberately didn’t look at other places. But we planned it together with Picky Child Company (@picky_child_dining), which does all kinds of creative work in Daegu, so I was influenced by Donga Sikdang (Donga Restaurant), which they run. It’s a restaurant true to the essence of food, which is its ingredients, and I was impressed by its dishes made with local ingredients and its space that captures a sense of locality.
Another source of inspiration was the Netflix documentary series ‘Chef’s Table.’ I remember strongly agreeing with the idea that a restaurant shouldn’t be just a place to eat, but a space that conveys an attitude toward food and ingredients.

You started your business in your hometown of Gangneung. What are the pros and cons of being a young entrepreneur in a regional city?
I think that to take on starting a business, you first have to know yourself well. What matters most to me are family, a positive influence, and experiences in nature. I started my business in Gangneung, where I can realize all three, so I can always work happily. I think it may be great good fortune.
On the other hand, the downside of a regional business is that it’s harder to scale up than in a big city. Growth is an important task for startup founders. But I don’t think every business has to put the emphasis on growth. It seems it’s about time for more local brands to grow at their own pace and with their own philosophy.

Where would you like to travel in relation to agriculture?
I’d like to go to China, the United States, and the Netherlands. I’m curious about China, which researches potato seeds on enormous tracts of farmland, as well as the American agricultural system and Dutch technology. For now I’m studying through YouTube and academic papers, but someday I’d like to see these places in person.

Among the results you’ve achieved working with farmers, is there a particularly meaningful metric?
The impact mission of The Root Company is to solve the problem of unstable farm income, so we naturally consider farm revenue the most important metric. We’ve achieved an average revenue increase of 24 percent, a result we’re proud of ourselves. There’s also a metric for upcycling ugly potatoes: so far, we’ve upcycled a cumulative total of about 63 tons.

What message do you want to convey through The Root Company?
The potato is one of the world’s four major staple crops and is extremely important to humankind. There are many related foods, too. When I look at potatoes in the agri-food industry, one phrase comes to mind: “a business nobody does.” You might call it a red ocean, but that’s exactly what draws us to it. If it’s a business nobody does but somebody has to, The Root Company wants to keep doing it.

What are your plans and goals going forward?
Since we’re just getting started, I think we’re getting more attention than we deserve. We still have a long way to go. I think we need to build up a lot of expertise so we can keep that attention going, so we’re still studying agriculture and potatoes hard. Together with team members who are sincere about potatoes and the local community, we plan to create new potato seeds and products. And someday I’m also planning a countryside version of Gamja Yuwonji. I want to complete it as a brand and a work where you can experience everything about potatoes.