Haitai

Haitai is a South Korean food company and consumer brand headquartered in Seoul. Its business has historically centered on confectionery, snacks, beverages, ice cream, and other retail and instant-food products. The company was founded on October 3, 1945, placing its origins in the early development of South Korea's modern packaged-food industry. Over time, Haitai built a broad portfolio spanning everyday snacks, cakes, candy, drinks, and frozen desserts, rather than concentrating on a single product category. One of Haitai's best-known confectionery products is Oh! Yes Choco Cake, also known in Korean as O-Yeh-Su. The product consists of individually wrapped square chocolate-coated cakes, with sponge layers surrounding a custard-like chocolate filling. Its boxed format makes it a typical convenience-oriented packaged snack and supports distribution through retail channels. Haitai products have also reached overseas consumers through importers and distributors, including arrangements identified for the United States, Canada, and the Philippines. Haitai became particularly prominent in South Korea's honey-butter snack trend. Beginning in 2014, the company introduced Honey Butter Chip and followed it with products including Honey Tong Tong and Honey Corn Pop. The flavor profile became highly influential in the Korean snack market, encouraging competing food manufacturers to release their own honey-butter products. This episode strengthened Haitai's reputation for creating or popularizing mass-market snack concepts with strong consumer appeal. A major corporate turning point came in October 2004, when Haitai was acquired by Crown Confectionery, another South Korean confectionery company. The acquisition placed Haitai within Crown's broader business structure while preserving Haitai as a recognizable consumer-facing name. Haitai's operations have included multiple manufacturing sites in South Korea, with facilities associated with locations such as Cheonan, Anyang, Hayang, Gwangju, Cheongju, Munmak-eup, and Okcheon. The cited company profile reports approximately 3,900 employees and eight plants, although the applicable date for those figures is not specified. Haitai's overall positioning is that of a mass-market Korean food producer offering familiar, accessible packaged foods across several consumption occasions. Its portfolio combines established confectionery lines with snack innovation and beverage and ice-cream businesses. The brand remains most strongly associated with South Korean retail food culture, while selected products are exported or distributed internationally.

Haitai was founded on October 3, 1945, and developed as a South Korean producer of packaged foods. Its activities came to include confectionery, snack foods, beverages, ice cream, and other retail and instant-food categories. This broad product scope allowed the company to participate in several parts of the everyday food market, from individually portioned sweets and cakes to drinks and frozen desserts. The company's manufacturing and distribution footprint expanded across South Korea. A cited profile describes Haitai as operating eight plants in locations including Cheonan, Anyang, Hayang, Gwangju, Cheongju, Munmak-eup, and Okcheon, and reports a workforce of about 3,900 people. The source does not provide a date for those operating figures, so they are treated as historical reference information rather than a current headcount. Haitai's confectionery portfolio includes Oh! Yes Choco Cake, a boxed snack made from individually wrapped square cakes. Each cake combines sponge layers with a custard-like chocolate filling and a chocolate-coated exterior decorated with a dark-chocolate wave pattern. The product has also been distributed outside South Korea through country-specific import and distribution arrangements, including the United States, Canada, and the Philippines. The company's most visible product-development moment in the available record occurred in 2014. Haitai introduced Honey Butter Chip and later extended the concept through Honey Tong Tong, Honey Corn Pop, and other honey-flavored snacks. The products contributed to a broader honey-butter craze in South Korea. Other food companies followed with their own honey-butter-flavored snacks and confectionery, making Haitai's range an important example of a product trend that spread beyond the originating brand. In October 2004, Crown Confectionery acquired Haitai. This transaction changed Haitai's ownership while retaining Haitai as an established food name and product identity. The acquisition is an important part of the brand's corporate history because Haitai subsequently operated within the wider Crown Confectionery structure rather than solely as an independent company. Haitai is therefore best understood as both a South Korean food company and a consumer-facing brand. Its history combines postwar-era food manufacturing, portfolio expansion across snacks and refreshments, export distribution for selected products, a notable 2014 snack innovation cycle, and integration into Crown Confectionery after the 2004 acquisition. The available source material does not establish a complete current corporate structure, detailed leadership history, financial performance, or a precise list of present-day markets.

• 2014

  Haitai develops its honey-butter snack range

  [1]Haitaien.wikipedia.org

  Haitai launched Honey Butter Chip and extended the flavor concept to additional products, helping drive a wider honey-butter snack trend in South Korea.

• 2004

  Acquisition by Crown Confectionery

  [1]Haitaien.wikipedia.org

  Crown Confectionery acquired Haitai in October 2004.

• 1945

  Haitai is founded

  [1]Haitaien.wikipedia.org

  Haitai was founded on October 3, 1945, beginning its development as a South Korean food producer.

A mass-market South Korean food brand spanning confectionery, snacks, beverages, ice cream, and other convenient packaged foods, with a reputation for accessible products and successful snack innovation.

• Confectionery and packaged cake

  Oh! Yes Choco Cake

  Oh! Yes Choco Cake is a boxed, individually wrapped square cake. It uses two white sponge layers around a custard-like chocolate filling and has a chocolate-coated exterior finished with a wavy dark-chocolate decoration. The product is designed as a convenient packaged snack and has been distributed in selected overseas markets through local importers and distributors.

• Snack food · 2014

  Honey Butter Chip

  Honey Butter Chip is a Haitai snack combining a butter-oriented savory profile with honey sweetness. Introduced in 2014, it became the foundation of Haitai's honey-butter product family and was associated with a major Korean snack trend that encouraged competitors to develop similar flavor offerings.

• Snack food · 2014

  Honey Tong Tong

  Honey Tong Tong is one of the products Haitai introduced after Honey Butter Chip as part of its expansion of the honey-butter flavor platform. It helped extend the concept beyond a single flagship snack into a broader branded range.

• Snack food · 2014

  Honey Corn Pop

  Honey Corn Pop is another Haitai product associated with the company's honey-flavored snack development during the 2014 honey-butter trend. It applied the flavor direction to a corn-based snack format.

• 2014Honey-butter snack platform

  South Korea

  Haitai introduced Honey Butter Chip and followed it with additional honey-flavored products, creating a recognizable product platform rather than a single isolated launch. The range became closely associated with the wider honey-butter craze in South Korean packaged snacks.

  Outcome. The flavor trend spread across the Korean food industry, with other companies releasing competing honey-butter snacks and confectionery.

  Source

• 2014

  Honey Butter Chip and related product launchesProduct launch

  Background

  Haitai sought to expand its snack portfolio with a distinctive sweet-and-savory flavor concept.

  Action taken

  The company launched Honey Butter Chip and subsequently added Honey Tong Tong, Honey Corn Pop, and other related products.

  Aftermath

  The products helped popularize honey-butter flavor in South Korea and prompted other food companies to introduce similar products.

  • Other South Korean food companies — Other food manufacturers followed the trend with their own honey-butter-flavored snacks and confectionery.

  Source

• 2004

  Crown Confectionery acquisitionM&A

  Background

  Haitai had developed into a diversified South Korean food company with confectionery, snack, beverage, and ice-cream activities.

  Action taken

  Crown Confectionery acquired Haitai in October 2004.

  Aftermath

  Haitai continued as a recognizable food brand within Crown Confectionery's broader corporate structure.

  Source

1. 1Haitaien.wikipedia.org
2. 2https://www.haitai.co.krhaitai.co.kr