BB.Q Chicken offers new Jamaican-style dish with plans to go to North America

BB.Q Chicken introduced its Jamaican Jerk Fried Chicken with Sotteok to local customers on Monday, with plans to bring the dish to its North American branches in the near future.

The new fried chicken flavor is a mix of BB.Q Chicken’s two popular picks, being fried in olive oil like its Golden Fried Chicken and covered with the jerk sauce like its Jamaican Grilled Chicken.

As suggested by the sotteok in the name, which refers to skewered sausage and rice cakes, the fried chicken is topped with sausages and rice cakes also flavored with jerk sauce.

This isn’t the first dish to use the jerk sauce, but Genesis BBQ, which operates the fried chicken brand, says the sauce used in the Jamaican Jerk Fried Chicken with Sotteok is different from that used in the Jamaican Grilled Chicken. According to the company, the new sauce has more coriander, nutmeg and cumin seasonings, and the spice level is amped up with the addition of cheongyang red peppers.

The fried chicken was slated to start selling on Nov. 3, but the release date was pushed back due to the mourning period for the people affected from the Itaewon crush on Oct. 29.

The fried chicken is currently only offered locally, but could be available at branches overseas in the near future. Genesis BBQ said it aims to sell the new flavor at its North American branches early next year at the earliest, but will have to discuss specific dates and decide if ingredients need be exported from Korea or supplied from a local supplier.

“We have around 200 branches in the United States and Canada, and they are growing very rapidly,” said Park Jong-chul, head of Genesis BBQ’s research and development center. “When developing the dish, we also considered offering it to our customers abroad in North America.”

It has high hopes that the fried chicken will be well-received by consumers in North America, considering the countries are already accustomed to their foods.

The company is planning various online promotions. Partnering with singers Skull and Koonta, the company will release a promotional song and music video with a reggae rhythm, a music genre that originated from Jamaica.

The Jamaican Jerk Fried Chicken with Sotteok costs 24,000 won ($17).

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]