Muktaekkang emerging as Korea's 'Pokémon Bread 2.0'

Pepper mayonnaise-flavored Muktaekkang is propelling Koreans towards stores in the latest craze after Pokémon Bread and Honey Butter Chips. Named after dried pollack, the Shrimp Cracker’s successor was sold out as soon as it hit shelves.

A customer holds up two bags of Muktaekkang after purchasing them at a discount store in Seoul on Sunday. [NEWS1]

Pepper mayonnaise-flavored Muktaekkang is propelling Koreans towards stores in the latest craze after Pokémon Bread and Honey Butter Chips. Named after dried pollack, the Shrimp Cracker’s successor was sold out as soon as it hit shelves and is being traded at a premium on online flea markets.

Over 2.13 million bags of Muktaekkang were sold in the four weeks since Nongshim launched the snack on June 26. This translates to 73,400 bags daily, on par with sales numbers for Honey Twist Snack, the food maker’s second-best-selling snack, during the period.

Muktaekkang is sold at convenience stores, supermarkets and discount stores, and is being early sought out by fans amid its rising popularity. Muktaekkang chasers get hints from online communities and convenience store apps to track down supplies.

It took this reporter 34 stops to convenience stores and 8 stops to discount stores before finding a bag in Yangcheon District, western Seoul.

Customers purchase the two bags of Muktaekkang allowed per person after waiting in a queue at a discount store in downtown Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Muktaekkang crackers have a soy sauce and mayonnaise taste on the first bite, followed by a sweet aftertaste. Although failing in their attempt to echo the taste of muktae, or dried pollack, served with a spicy mayo dip, they do a fair job as a beer snack.

“Around four bags of Muktaekkang come in every day, but they often don’t even make it to the shelf because people pick them right up as soon as the grocery truck unloads them,” a manager of a CU convenience store in Incheon said.

The bags rarely stay in stores for more than half an hour, and customers who miss the grocery truck’s arrival time pull personal favors to keep them aside, the manager claimed.

“It’s Pokémon Bread 2.0.”

SPC Samlip’s Pokémon Bread, which gets its name from the collectible Pokémon stickers inside each package, had Pokémon fans lining up in front of stores when the products were re-released for the first time in 16 years in February last year.

A printout image of Professor Oak tells customers that Pokémon Bread is sold out at a supermarket in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on March 16, 2022. [NEWS1]

Unopened packages and stickers were sold at a premium on online secondhand marketplace platforms and stickers of rare Pokémon were traded at around 50,000 won ($39). Pokémon Bread costs around 1,500 won to 2,000 won.

Muktaekkang, priced at 1,700 won per bag in stores, is sold at around 4,000 won per bag on online flea markets.

Nongshim put a limit on the number of Muktaekkang bags users can purchase at its online mall. Sales for 200 boxes open twice a day at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., with each user limited to four bags, but even then the supply sells out within a few minutes.

When TMON, an e-commerce platform, opened a deal selling 3,680 bags of Muktaekkang on July 19, they sold out in 44 seconds.

Such frenzy has some consumers criticizing Nongshim for implementing hunger marketing. Hunger marketing is a strategy that involves offering products on limited stock to increase consumer demand.

A Honey Butter Chip bag is sold in a bundle with other snacks in November 2014. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Pokémon Bread in 2022 and Honey Butter Chip in 2014 were other products that allegedly used the strategy, requiring consumers to sweat in order to get a taste. The products were sold on online flea markets at double or triple their retail price, sold at stores in bundles with other refreshments and, in their prime, were even prizes for claw machine games.

Orion’s chocolate churros-flavored Kkobuk Chip, released in September 2020, was another hard-to-get snack with 100,000 bags sold on average daily, eventually surpassing 11 million bags sold four months into its launch.

Nongshim upped Muktaekkang production at its Busan plant by 30 percent in July 10 by maximizing the operation rate of existing dried pollack cracker lines. Starting Tuesday, the company added more capacity by replacing less-popular snacks' production lines with Muktaekkang lines at the plant.

The boost allows the plant to pack 75,000 new bags daily.

Muktaekkang is sold on an online flea market platform at around 4,000 won ($3.10) per bag in Mapo District, western Seoul. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Nevertheless, Nongshim is not planning to build new production lines for Muktaekkang because the snack is still in the early stages after launch, and it is thus premature to make long-term decisions.

“We’re trying to meet consumer demand as much as possible with what we have on hand,” a Nongshim spokesperson said.

The main reason why food makers refrain from running at full speed is fears that a hit product could end up a fluke, like Paldo’s Kokomen ramen noodles.

Kokomen is a chicken broth-flavored ramen launched in 2011 based on a recipe that won second place in a ramen competition on a TV program. Named after the onomatopoeia of a chicken’s call, Kokomen rose to stardom immediately after its release, with 100 million units sold in 168 days.

Muktaekkang is sold out at Nongshim's online mall on Monday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Paldo decided to milk Kokomen as a new cash cow, as it did with its Jumbo Noodle cup ramen. The company invested 50 billion won to open new production lines for the rising star but quickly realized Kokomen was a one-season wonder.

In January 2012, Kokomen sales plummeted 50 percent on month and halved again the following month as consumers reverted to red, spicy noodles. Kokomen sales in the fourth quarter of that year were one-tenth of the first quarter.

Having witnessed Paldo learning the lesson the hard way, SPC Samlip, Orion and Haitai remained prudent when their Pokémon Bread, Kkobuk Chip and Honey Butter Chip products had consumers going on open rushes.

These bygone superstars are currently easily found in stores and are no longer secondhand deals.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]