Cuisine. K DOTS Day 2026: How Korea Is Building the Next Chef Generation
- Julia Lee
- 11분 전
- 3분 분량
A Platform Beyond a Networking Event
Held at Cavehouse in Itaewon, Seoul, 2026 Cuisine. K DOTS Day was more than an annual gathering—it offered a clear snapshot of how Korea’s culinary industry is preparing for its next generation. Organized by CJ CheilJedang, Cuisine. K is a long-term talent development initiative focused on discovering, training, and expanding the careers of young Korean chefs.
Now in its second year, DOTS Day—short for Draw Opportunities and Take the Start—was conceived as a space for reflection and connection. Approximately 150 attendees, including young chefs, Cuisine. K alumni from the first to third cohorts, and industry professionals, gathered to review past achievements and discuss future directions for Korean cuisine.
Why “Next-Generation Chefs” Matter Now
Across major global dining capitals, one concern is increasingly shared: the scarcity of new voices. As fine dining ecosystems mature, investment and visibility tend to concentrate around established names, leaving fewer opportunities for emerging chefs at the starting line. Conversations around “young chefs” and “next chefs” are no longer trend-driven—they have become indicators of an industry’s long-term health. Cuisine. K positions itself squarely within this gap, not as a short-term accelerator, but as an ecosystem designed to sustain growth over time.
The Cuisine. K Structure: Challenge, Growth, Expansion
At the core of Cuisine. K is a clearly defined career framework built around three stages: Challenge, Growth, and Expansion.
Challenge focuses on foundations, offering masterclasses, Korean fine-dining training programs (K-Stage), and culinary competitions.
Growth emphasizes real-world experience, most notably through pop-up restaurant operations that allow chefs to test concepts under professional conditions.
Expansion extends these experiences beyond Korea, supporting international pop-ups, overseas cooking classes, and participation in global culinary competitions.
Rather than isolated programs, these stages are designed to connect, allowing chefs to move organically from learning to execution to global exposure.
Global Testing, Not Global Promotion
Cuisine. K’s overseas activities reflect this philosophy. From Hong Kong pop-up restaurants to cooking classes across Europe and participation in international competitions in markets such as the UK and Indonesia, the focus has been on testing how Korean cuisine adapts when placed inside different food cultures. The goal is not export for export’s sake, but translation—understanding how Korean culinary identity can remain intact while responding to local contexts.
Deepening the Definition of Korean Cuisine
One of Cuisine. K’s most notable positions is its refusal to confine Korean cuisine to a single format. Traditional Korean food remains central, but the platform acknowledges that Korean chefs working across global genres—whether Italian, French, or contemporary—can still express a distinctly Korean culinary perspective. This understanding reframes Korean cuisine as a living language rather than a fixed category, shaped by study, experimentation, and exchange.
New Programs for 2026: Research and Collaboration
Looking ahead, Cuisine. K outlined two key initiatives for 2026. The first is Cuisine. K Salon, an R&D-focused program dedicated to the deeper study of Korean food culture, ingredients, and culinary philosophy. The second is the Korean Chef Series, a new platform for collaboration with Korean chefs working overseas, featuring pop-ups and showcase events that strengthen global dialogue. Together, these programs signal a shift from exposure-driven projects toward knowledge-based, long-term development.
Corporate Social Contribution as Culinary Infrastructure
Cuisine. K also stands out for its positioning as a corporate social contribution project. Rather than one-off sponsorships, the initiative invests in infrastructure: education, operational support, marketing resources, and revenue-sharing models that allow young chefs to gain experience without unsustainable personal risk. In an era when automation and AI dominate conversations about the future of work, hospitality—and particularly food—remains deeply human. Craft, judgment, and care cannot be fully replicated by technology, making talent development not only a cultural issue but an economic one.
Connecting the Dots Forward
DOTS Day underscored a simple truth: culinary ecosystems are built over time, through continuity rather than spotlight moments. Today’s emerging chefs may appear as individual points, but with structure and support, those points eventually connect. Cuisine. K is not just producing events—it is designing a system where the future of Korean cuisine has room to form. In that sense, 2026 Cuisine. K DOTS Day was less a conclusion than a checkpoint, marking how far the platform has come—and how deliberately it is shaping what comes next.
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