Honey Tong Tong sales hit ￦50B in eight months

Food snack “Honey Tong Tong’s” sales surpassed 50 billion won ($43 million) for the first eight months of this year.

According to Haitai Confectionery and Foods, “Honey Tong Tong’s” total accumulated sales until last month reached 52.1 billion won.

In January, sales amounted to 3.8 billion won, but the snack reached 8 billion won in total sales for the month of August. “Honey Butter Chip,” the company’s original product, had sales of 7.5 billion won every month due to limited production capacity.

“Honey Tong Tong” has kept its No. 1 sales status for three consecutive months in the honey snacks category according to sample survey results from Nielson Korea. It is the only honey snack surpassing 5 billion won in monthly sales. It recorded 5.1 billion won in May, 5.7 billion won in June and 5.2 billion won in July.

“Honey Tong Tong” was initially developed as a substitute for “Honey Butter Chip,” which rapidly became scarce in the market due to surging popularity. “Until early this year, Honey Tong Tong was perceived as a replacement for customers who failed to snatch Honey Butter Chip,” said Choi Ha-na, chief director at Lotte Mart, “But after words saying ‘it tastes better than Honey Butter Chip’ or ‘it’s yummier than thought’ spread, sales spurred.”

The success of “Honey Tong Tong” brought 45.3 percent of the market share to Haitai according to Nielson Korea, an 8.1 percent increase from 37.2 percent this January.

If factory enlargement plans for “Honey Butter Chip” finish as scheduled in April next year, sales are forecast to increase up to 15 billion won monthly. “If this trend in sales continues, the Honey series solely is expected to bring 30 billion won in revenue each month,” added a Haitai official.

BY LEE HYUN-TAEK [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]