Theborn Korea Partners With Unox on Korean Menus
The Korean food company and Italian oven maker will create standardized Korean dish recipes for smart ovens.
Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Italian Food
Theborn Korea signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian commercial oven specialist Unox on November 4, 2026, at Unox's headquarters in Italy. The two companies plan to develop Korean dishes cookable in smart ovens using 11 types of TBK sauces.
Why it matters
The collaboration combines Theborn Korea's Korean menu development with Unox's automated cooking technology to explore business-to-business opportunities in Europe's foodservice market. Theborn Korea expects the approach to lower entry barriers for local foodservice businesses adopting Korean cuisine.
The partnership will use 11 types of TBK sauces to build Korean dishes for Unox ovens, some of which run over 300 automatic cooking programs. Details on recipe volume, rollout dates, and pricing have not been disclosed.
The players
Theborn Korea
Theborn Korea is a Korean food company that develops Korean menus under its global sauce brand TBK.
Unox
Unox is an Italian commercial oven manufacturer founded in 1990 that specializes in combination ovens with automated cooking programs.
The details
The companies will standardize cooking time, temperature, and humidity into data for each Korean dish, so local staff can select pre-set programs without Korean cuisine training. Theborn Korea also plans cooking demonstrations at Unox's headquarters for global foodservice executives and chefs, and will invite interested companies to South Korea for further demonstrations.
Timeline
November 4, 2026: Theborn Korea and Unox sign the memorandum of understanding at Unox's headquarters in Italy.
November 11, 2026: Theborn Korea announces the Unox collaboration.
Culture Shift
The move extends Unox's automated combi-oven programs, which already exceed 300 in some models, into Korean cuisine, mirroring the broader push by commercial kitchen equipment makers to make complex regional dishes replicable by untrained staff. It reflects a growing demand among European foodservice operators for global flavors that do not require specialist chefs.
Foodservice operators in Europe considering Korean menus may find that pre-set oven programs remove the need for specialist Korean cooks. Diners in those markets may see Korean dishes appear more often on commercial menus as the program library expands.
The takeaway
Standardized oven programs can let kitchens add regional cuisines without hiring specialists, a model that could widen which foods reach everyday menus. Watch for announced recipe volumes and rollout markets as the partnership develops.
Further reading
For more on the regional dishes shaping European kitchens, explore Italian Food.
