Nongshim repeats 'meoktae' success with new products

The Potatochip Meoktae Chung Yang Mayo Flavor and the Meoktaekkang Big Bowl (Nongshim)

Nongshim, the nation’s leading food maker, said Monday that its new meoktae-flavored products are becoming big sellers, building on the huge success of Meoktaekkang launched last year.

Meoktae is an Alaska pollack that has been processed through freezing and drying and it is favored as a side dish for beer or soju here.

Nongshim first launched the fish-flavored salty snack, Meoktaekkang, which became an immediate success selling 15 million bags since its debut in June last year.

Buoyed by the upbeat sales, Nongshim last month launched two new products -- the Potatochip Meoktae Chung Yang Mayo Flavor snack and the Meoktaekkang Big Bowl instant noodle.

The company said it sold 4.2 million bags of the potato chips in the first five weeks, surpassing the sales of Meoktaekkang, and 2.3 million cups of meoktae noodles in the first four weeks -- the best figures for cup ramyeon products released over the past year.

Nongshim attributed the positive response to the new products to the popularity of the Meoktaekkang brand and the successful infusion of the flavor into ramyeon and chips.

Employing aggressive marketing strategies, Nongshim has curated special snack sets on online platforms, collaborated with influencers for content creation, and plans offline PR activities with popular bars, considering meoktae as a sought-after snack to have with drinks.

"Nongshim is now acknowledged as a producer of top-quality meoktae products," a Nongshim official said. "Our goal is to provide a range of meoktae snacks, establishing them as consistent best-sellers under the slogan 'Nongshim for meoktae.'"

By Heo Yu-jeong(yjheo@heraldcorp.com)