Our story
A grandmother’s kimchi, a long way from home.
Bella’s Ferment Co. began the way a lot of good food does: with someone missing the taste of home.
Bella Kim grew up in Korea, making kimchi alongside her grandmother, her mother, her aunts and her cousins. In her family, kimchi wasn’t just a side dish. It was part of every celebration and every ordinary day.
Her grandmother’s kimchi was fiery. As a little girl, Bella would dip it in water to tame the heat before eating it. She learned the family recipe the way it has always been passed down: by watching, helping, and tasting.
In 2015, Bella followed her heart to London, Ontario. She was welcomed with open arms, but she was often homesick. She missed her mother’s cooking, and her grandmother’s kimchi most of all. She searched local restaurants for Korean food that tasted like home. Nothing came close. So she started making it herself.
Her cooking quickly won fans among friends, classmates and coworkers, and they kept asking for more. In 2018, while studying full-time at Fanshawe College, Bella turned that demand into a business.
“When I make kimchi, I use all five of my senses: smell, taste, sight, hearing and touch. It brings back the memory of making kimchi with my grandma, mom, aunts, cousins and friends, and that memory keeps me working hard.”
The journey so far
From one kitchen to many tables.
- ChildhoodKorea
Learning at her grandmother’s side
Bella grows up making kimchi with her grandmother, mother, aunts and cousins. Kimchi is part of every celebration and every ordinary day.
- 2015London, Ontario
A long way from home
Bella moves to London. Missing her family’s cooking and unable to find Korean food that tastes like home, she starts making it herself. Friends, classmates and coworkers keep asking for more.
- 2018Old East Village
Bella’s Acacia Catering opens
While studying business accounting full-time at Fanshawe College, Bella launches her business from a small shared kitchen on Dorinda Street, often working 15-hour days.
- 2020630 Dundas Street
A kitchen of her own
Bella graduates in the spring and that fall moves into 630 Dundas Street. With the pandemic upending restaurants and catering, she takes her kimchi to farmers’ markets and pop-ups, introducing it to people tasting kimchi for the very first time.
- 2022630 Dundas Street
Room to grow
A move into a larger space at 630 Dundas gives Bella room to make more, while keeping every batch small and handmade.
- MilestoneFood safety
HACCP certified
After nearly a year of work, Bella’s kimchi earns HACCP certification, the internationally recognized food safety system used by food producers around the world.
- 2025St. Thomas
Horton Farmers’ Market
Bella’s becomes a regular vendor at the Horton Farmers’ Market, alongside seasonal markets and craft shows across the region.
- TodayLondon, Ontario
Bella’s Ferment Co.
A new name for what the business has become: a small-batch fermentation kitchen with seven ferments, shelves in independent shops across Southwestern Ontario, and a growing wholesale and private label business.
Why it’s vegan
True to older roots.
Many kimchi recipes rely on fish sauce or salted seafood. Bella’s family recipe never has. It predates modern Korea and follows the tradition of regions with little access to the ocean, where kimchi was made without seafood.
That makes every Bella’s ferment naturally vegan, and free of the fish and shellfish allergens found in many store-bought kimchis. In Bella’s words: “Our recipe stays true to those traditional roots.”
With gratitude
Grown in Old East Village.
Bella’s has grown up in London’s Old East Village, with help from the London Small Business Centre, the neighbours at 630 Dundas, and every customer who has stopped by a market table to ask “what’s kimchi?”
To everyone who has bought a jar, told a friend, or come back for another: thank you. This is your story too.
Wholesale & partnerships
Put Bella’s on your shelf.
We work with independent grocers, specialty shops, cafés and restaurants across Southwestern Ontario, and we make private label kimchi too.