Tofu Maker Pulmuone Planning Move to Fullerton
By SHERRI CRUZ
South Korean tofu maker Pulmuone USA Inc. plans to move its U.S. headquarters, including a research and development center, from South Gate to Fullerton by July.
Pulmuone USA Inc. has outgrown its South Gate facility, said John Sim, the company’s national sales manager.
“We’ve produced so much it’s either replace or move,” he said.
The U.S. arm of Pulmuone,
pronounced “pull-moo-one,” has $12 million in yearly sales and also sells noodles, sauces and other products. The company’s South Korean parent counts annual sales of $250 million.
Pulmuone paid $6.7 million to Newport Beach-based Operon Group for a 90,000-square-foot building finished last year at 2313 Moore Ave. in the Fullerton Moore Business Park.
The building is set to house Pulmuone’s manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and administration.
Also making the move is the company’s Soga Soy Foods research and development center, where workers use soy protein material to come up with foods.
Pulmuone employs about 70 people in South Gate. Executives and some workers plan to relocate, Sim said. The company also plans to hire an undisclosed number of production workers in Fullerton, he said.
The company expects to take up about 45,000 square feet of space at the new building and lease out the other half for three years before expanding, he said.
In South Gate, Pulmuone occupies 30,000 square feet with its divisions spread out among different buildings, Sim said. Getting everything under one roof was key, he said.
Jerry Gillman, a broker for Colliers Seeley International Inc. who represented the tofu maker, said it would be cheaper for Pulmuone to build in the Inland Empire. But utility costs were a driving factor in the move to Fullerton.
The company uses a lot of water for its soy products, and the cost to hook up to the sewage system is cheaper in Orange County, Gillman said.
Pulmuone should feel at home in Fullerton. The city is a hub for Koreans, who make a good chunk of Fullerton’s 16% Asian population.
“It’s a beautiful city,” Sim said.
The area also has an abundant labor pool, he said, while the Moore Business Park is close to markets in Riverside and Los Angeles.
Tofu, a staple in Asia, is Pulmuone’s best selling product. Tofu’s popularity has grown in the U.S. because soy,it’s main ingredient,is high in protein and is a favorite of vegetarians.
Pulmuone’s tofu products sit side by side with Garden Grove-based House Foods America Corp.’s products in grocery stores such as Ralphs and Trader Joe’s.
“We think their expansion is favorable to us,” said Kazumi Kuniyasu, customer relations manager for House Foods, part of Japan’s House Foods Corp. “As the total market grows, our sales grow.”
House Foods, which opened its first American sales office in Los Angeles in 1981, predates Pulmuone’s arrival here by about a decade.
House employs about 330 people in OC at what it calls the largest tofu plant in America.
Pulmuone moved into the U.S. market in 1991 and opened its first factory in Los Angeles in 1995. It also owns another factory in Tappan, N.Y., which opened last year.
