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Nongshim outdoes original honey butter chips

January 21, 2015

South Korean foodmaker Nongshim Co. said on Jan. 21, 2015 that its honey mustard-flavored Sumi Potato Chips, shown in the photo, posted a monthly sales record and outsold the original version of the snack, the Honey Butter Chips. (Photo courtesy of Nongshim Co.)

SEOUL (Yonhap) — A knockoff version of honey-flavored potato chips that have been the talk of the town in recent months has nudged out the original in monthly sales, if the numbers provided by its maker on Wednesday are true.

Nongshim, the foodmaker that produces honey mustard-flavored “Sumi Potato Chips,” claimed that it sold 3.6 million bags, or 8.6 billion won (US$7.94 million) worth, of the snack in a month since they were first put on the shelves in mid-December. The monthly sales are the record highest in the local snack industry.

The Sumi chips are one of a number of taste-alikes that have ridden the coattails of the original “Honey Butter Chips” from Haitai Confectionery Foods Co. who hit the market with a bang five months ago. The snack was hailed for successfully breaking the conventional notion that potato chips need to be salty or spicy and can actually be sweet at the same time. Praises that started on social networking sites spread quickly, and the chips are nearly impossible to find in most stores nationwide because they are sold within minutes after reaching the shelves. Small-time entrepreneurs are offering the chips for online sales at jacked-up prices.

The Honey Butter Chips first came about after Haitai and major Japanese snack producer Calbee Inc. created the unique flavor in a joint venture.

The prototype of the sweet-and-salty chips, despite its tremendous popularity, has not been able to outsell its replica due largely to Haitai’s lack of production facilities to keep up with soaring demand.

Haitai said despite the near-craze popularity, its Honey Butter Chips monthly sales came short of Nongshim’s copied version at 7.5 billion won.

“Consumers, in fact, want to buy the original version but are only turning to other knockoff products as the second best thing to the Honey Butter Chips since they are so hard to find at stores,” a Haitai official said.

Haitai, however, challenged Nongshim’s claim to the No. 1 ranking.

The company’s other honey-flavor snack, the “Honey Tong Tong,” is expected to push up sales by 3.8 billion won, according to company officials.

“With the addition of the Honey Tong Tongs, Haitai will clearly be the No. 1 maker of potato chips,” the Haitai official said.

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