Yonsei Milk tops $225 million in sales last year thanks to cream buns

Yonsei Milk’s milk cream bun [Photo provided by Yonsei Milk]

Dairy company Yonsei Milk saw sales exceeding 300 billion won ($225.3 million) last year, the first time ever for the company since its establishment in 1962, thanks to the popularity of the company’s dairy cream-filled buns sold at convenience stores.

According to industry sources on Thursday, Yonsei Milk’s sales last year reached 305.3 billion won, up 33.2 percent from 229.2 billion won the year before. The main driver of the growth was its cream buns sold at CU convenience stores, where it sold more than 19 million buns last year after the launch in January. That’s 2,616 percent growth in the company’s confectionery sales.

The cream buns currently sold come in four flavors, including milk and chocolate. The product is now a steady seller, with cumulative sales exceeding 30 million won over 16 months.

The popularity of the cream buns has led to an improvement in the company’s brand awareness, leading to overall growth in sales across all business lines at the company. Sales of health supplements rose by 43.4 percent last year, compared with a year before, and those of soy milk increased by 17.1 percent.

The company even enjoyed a 7.5 percent growth in sales of its milk and processed milk, which has been falling due to a decline in the population of school kids. Sales in the segment were mostly driven by home delivery or online orders.

“Our cream buns seem to have improved overall brand awareness and credibility of our product quality, which must have led to more consumers buying our products,” said an official from the company.

Its new processed milk products are also gaining popularity since their launch in February thanks to unique flavors - macadamia chocolate, cold brew coffee and sweetcorn - and a cute packaging with handles. Yonsei Milk’s processed milk has sold cumulatively more than 3 million bottles now.

The company hopes to continue this growth momentum. Later this month, expansion of its factory will be completed and will open a 6,631-square-meter automated warehouse in Asan, south of Seoul. The company is expecting the new automated warehouse to help improve production and inventory management.

Having started as a non-profit organization under the umbrella of Yonsei University, it first surpassed 200 billion won in sales in 2012, but its growth over the past decade has been stagnant, until it topped 300 billion won last year. Marking the 300 billion won mark, a long-standing goal for the company, its Seoul office located within the university’s Seoul campus set up a placard celebrating the new sales record.