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Culinary Class Wars contestant, Napoli Matfia's innovating dish, Chestnut Tiramisu, has become a rage in South Korea. On October 2, 2024, Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the dish was set to be released across CU convenience stores in South Korea. The stores are operated by BGF Retail, who is reportedly developing the dish into their commercialized menu.
For the unversed, Netflix's Korean reality cooking show, Culinary Class Wars, was aired on September 17, 2024, where Korea's 80 best chefs competed against 20 celebrity chefs, among whom several are renowned Michelin-star chefs. Among the 80 chefs, only 20 made it to the second round as the "Black Spoon Chefs" who went head-to-head with the 20 "White Spoon Chefs."
Napoli Matfia is one of the Black Spoon Chefs, who made Chestnut Tiramisu in episode 8 of Culinary Class Wars for the "loser's resurrection match" segment.
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The episode segment showed contestants using convenience store products to create innovative dishes. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that Napoli Matfia's Chestnut Tiramisu included several products from the CU convenience store.
Culinary Class Wars episodes 8 and 9 helped CU convenience stores see a spike in their sales
Culinary Class Wars has released 10 episodes in total, where episodes 8, 9, and 10 were aired on October 1, 2024, on Netflix. The reality cooking show includes star chefs like Edward Lee, who has cooked for United States President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in 2023.
The show is judged by Korean celebrity chef, Paik Jong-won, along with Ahn Sung-jae, the owner of Mosu Seoul, the only restaurant in South Korea to have three Michelin stars.
Furthermore, the Black Spoon chefs are introduced by a nickname as their real names will be revealed later. Napoli Matfia is the nickname of the chef as his real name hasn't been disclosed in the show yet. He learned cooking in Italy for years before returning to South Korea and opening his own Italian restaurant, Via Toledo.
Meanwhile, Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the ingredients of his Chestnut Tiramisu included Yonsei Milk Marron Whipped Cream Bread and HEYROO Chestnut Get It, two of CU's private brand (PB) goods. It also involved Diget, an Orion chocolate cookie along with Toffee Nut Latte, an Ediya product.
After episode 8 was aired by Netflix, CU reported a sales increase for the products used in the Chestnut Tiramisu recipe. The recipes were shared on the official X (formerly Twitter) account of Netflix Korea as well. An executive from CU convenience stores stated:
"It is not easy for sales to increase in one day, so we were surprised by the significant increase in sales."
According to the report, sales of the chocolate whole-wheat biscuits used in Napoli Matfia's dish, jumped by 57.5%. CU's chestnut sales increased by 49.7%, and sales of lattes increased by 34.0% as of October 1, 2024.
Culinary Class Wars will air its last two episodes on October 8, 2024, on Netflix. The rest 10 episodes are available on Netflix for global streaming.
