Most Korean food brands enter the US after they are established at home. ARIH did the reverse: a US launch in April 2026, Walmart only, and repeat-purchase volumes on the shelf before Korean shoppers could buy it.
ARIH is a Korean food and beverage brand that launched in the United States on 24 April 2026, sold exclusively at Walmart stores and on walmart.com, according to a PRNewswire announcement. Distribution runs through HYH, a joint venture between Paldo and hy. Paldo holds a 40.83% stake in hy, so the two sit inside the same group.
The Korean launch followed on 1 June 2026, with 28 products for the domestic market, according to ZDNet Korea. That sequence, US first and home market second, is unusual for a Korean food brand and reflects a launch built around a single US retail account rather than a domestic base that is later exported.
A walmart.com check on 3 September 2026 returned 43 ARIH listings. The Modern Noodles four-pack sells for $8.77 with a 4.7 average from 2,338 ratings. Individual flavours show monthly volumes on the listing page: soy butter above 7,000 units, black pepper tteokbokki above 4,000, and vongole above 3,000. The energy drink four-pack sells for $7.74 at 4.5 stars across 809 ratings, and the soda four-pack at the same price holds 4.7 stars across 1,019 ratings. Every item is SNAP EBT eligible.
SNAP EBT eligibility places a product in the everyday grocery basket rather than the specialty or international aisle. Combined with rating counts in the four figures and monthly unit volumes in the thousands, it indicates repeat purchase by mainstream shoppers, not trial buying driven by novelty.
Japan, Mexico, and Canada are the next markets, according to the Seoul Economic Daily. The pattern is the same one the US launch established: enter through a defined retail relationship in each market rather than building domestic scale first.
ARIH shows that a Korean brand can reach everyday grocery status in a US chain within months, provided the supply chain behind it is built for that from the start. For buyers, the question is less whether Korean products can sell and more whether a given Korean supplier can hold a national account's volume, compliance, and replenishment requirements from day one.
ARIH is sold exclusively at Walmart stores and on walmart.com, following its 24 April 2026 US launch.
Yes. ARIH is distributed by HYH, a joint venture between the Korean companies Paldo and hy, and launched in Korea on 1 June 2026 with 28 products.
The Modern Noodles line leads, with a four-pack priced at $8.77 carrying a 4.7 average from 2,338 ratings as of 3 September 2026. Soy butter is the highest-volume flavour at more than 7,000 units a month.
