Lotte Chilsung
Template:Short description Template:Infobox company
Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co., Ltd. (Template:Korean/auto) is a drink manufacturer in South Korea affiliated with Lotte Corporation. The company's name, Chilsung (Template:Korean/auto), signifies "Big Dipper" or seven stars, and its logo displays seven stars aligned in a row.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
History
Chilsung was founded in May 1950, then known as the Dongbang Beverage Company, and began with the launch of Chilsung Cider, a lemon-lime soft drink.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1967, they became Hanmi Foods Industry Co., then changing to Chilsung Hanmi Foods Corporation in 1973, eventually becoming the Chilsung Beverage Company.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1975, the company acquired Busan Joint Beverage Corporation and signed a technology partnership agreement with PepsiCo in 1976.
In 1985, it was appointed the official beverage supplier for the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and 1988 Seoul Olympics, merged with Lotte Brewery in July 1986 and introduced CIP in December. In 1987, the Opo plant became the first in the industry to receive the KS mark.
By 2009, Chilsung products accounted for 36.7% of the Korean beverage market, compared to Coca Cola's 17.6%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and rebranded it as Lotte Liquor BG and built a logistics centre in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi-do, and acquired PepsiCo Products Philippines Inc (PCPPI) in 2010 and merged with Lotte Liquor BG the following year.
As Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho's health was deteriorating, his sons vied for control of the conglomerate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The fraternal feud hit a peak in 2015 when eldest son Dong-joo was removed from his position as Vice President of Lotte Holdings and his younger brother Shin Dong-bin assumed control.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> News of the leadership struggle created doubts about Lotte's future, and Lotte Chilsung Beverage's market value dropped 6.85% in August.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2016, amidst a police probe into embezzlement, Lotte Group companies lost a combined market value of Template:KRWConvert in just four days, with Lotte Chilsung's shares falling by 3.93% in a single day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In February 2018, Chairman Shin Dong-bin was convicted on charges of bribery as part of the 2016 South Korean political scandal and sentenced to 2.5 years' incarceration.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After serving for 234 days, an appeals court released him from prison, and he went back to his duties as Chairman shortly after.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When news of his release broke, Lotte Group's market value was boosted by 4.2%.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2018, Chilsung Beverage was fined Template:KRWConvert by the Securities & Futures Commission of Financial Services for underreporting the losses of an affiliate. It was found that the drinks company masked net losses of Template:KRWConvert, reporting them as just Template:KRWConvert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Corporate governance
As of October 2023.
| Shareholder | Stake (%) | Flag |
|---|---|---|
| Lotte Corporation | 45.00% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
| Lotte Aluminium | 7.64% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
| Lotte Scholarship Foundation | 5.41% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
| Shin Young-ja | 2.66% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
| Lotte Holdings | 1.18% | File:Flag of Japan.svg |
| Shin Dong-bin | 0.47% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
| National Pension Service | 10.09% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
| VIP Asset Management | 5.25% | File:Flag of South Korea.svg |
Products
Chilsung Cider
By the end of 2013, Lotte had sold over 18.5 billion bottles of Chilsung Cider.<ref name=":0" /> In December 2019, they had to retire the iconic green bottle due to new government regulation about PET plastic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The bottles are now clear.
Cola
American military presence as a result of the Korean War in the 1950s led to carbonated beverages appearing in South Korea for the first time. Chilsung released their own version of Cola in 1961, prior to Coca-Cola's official entry into the Korean market. It was first named Speci Cola, but then changed to Chilsung Cola to match its sister product Chilsung Cider, but this has since been discontinued.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Nowadays, Lotte Chilsung does not produce their own cola but instead bottles & distributes Pepsi Cola across Korea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Milkis
Juices
Lotte Chilsung Beverage currently produces a range of natural fruit juices in orange, grape, apple, tangerine, pear, and mango flavors. In 1982, the company established a partnership with US-based, Del Monte, and now manufactures the Premium Orange and Del Monte Cold products. In 2009, the license for Tropicana was acquired and Tropicana Homemade style blends and other popular choices were produced.Template:Citation needed
Coffee and tea
The lineup in coffee include Let's Be, South Korea's No. 1 canned coffee; Cantata, a coffee blend made with Arabica beans from plantations worldwide; and black tea drinks Ceylon Tea and Lipton.
Other beverages/bottled water
Other beverages range from soy milks to traditional beverage and health drinks. Other varieties in the catalog include the sports drink Gatorade, the carbonated water Trevi, the purified water Icis, and France-imported Evian and Volvic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Alcoholic drinks
Lotte Chilsung Beverage has been marketing Scotch Blue, Korea's local whiskey brand, along with fruit liquor, traditional Mirin, and other alcoholic beverages. Other alcoholic drinks include soju, cheongju Baekhwasubok, plum liquor Seoljungmae Plus, and South Korean wine Majuang.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Their soju brand Chum-Churum (Template:Korean/auto) is the world's first soju made from alkaline-reduced water. In 2021, the spirit brand recorded sales worth Template:KRWConvert in 37 countries.<ref name=":1" />
Expansion abroad
In 1966, Lotte Chilsung began exporting its Chilsung Cider to Vietnam. In 1989, Lotte Chilsung acquired a JAS mark. In the late 1990s, the manufacturer grew to be the largest beverage company in Asia, holding 35% of the domestic market share.Template:Citation needed Lotte Chilsung continued to grow signing a contract with Gatorade in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By the end of 2024, a Lotte spokesperson claimed overseas sales will make up more than 30% of Chilsung Beverage's total revenue.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>
US
In 2017, Lotte sought to expand their presence in the US beverage market, promoting Cider, Milkis and energy drink Hot6.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They first began exporting their flavoured soju brand Cheom-cheoreum Soonhari to the US in 2019.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>
China
In 2016, the South Korean government chose Lotte Skyhill Country Club as the site to install a new advanced anti-missile system, THAAD.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This led to a sharp rise in anti-Korean sentiment in China, with much of the frustration targeted at Lotte.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite news</ref> There were widespread boycotts and protests, with employees of a mall in Xuchang protesting Lotte as they sung the Chinese national anthem.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
As a result, Lotte's Chinese business operations suffered greatly, with four out of six of Lotte Confectionery and Lotte Chilsung Beverage's factories in Beijing, Qingdao, Henan and Qingbai shutting down in Q1 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> All of Chilsung Beverage & Lotte Confectionary's Chinese operations had ceased by 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Despite this difficult diplomatic backdrop, Lotte Chilsung was still able to sell beverages into Chinese markets. In 2021, Chilsung sold more than 25 million cans of Milkis to Chinese markets, with Taiwan's consumption increasing 1100% in just a year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Between January and August 2022, they had exported over 10 million cans of Milkis to Taiwan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Philippines
Chilsung Beverage first entered the Filipino market in 2010 by purchasing a 34.4% stake in Pepsi Cola Products Philippines (PCPPI).<ref name=":3" /> In 2020, Chilsung paid Template:KRWConvert to increase their stake to 72.9%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They completed their acquisition of the country's 2nd largest beverage producer in October 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Use of celebrities
As a Korean brand, Lotte Chilsung has incorporated many famous Korean entertainers into their advertising.
Singer Lee Hyori represented their soju brand Chum-Churum (Template:Korean/auto) between 2007 and 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Then, a marketing campaign with the idol nicknamed the "nation's first love", Bae Suzy, ran from 2016 to 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> BLACKPINK's Jennie led the brand from 2021 to 2023, with actress Han So-hee becoming their latest representative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
For one soju campaign with BLACKPINK's Jennie, Chum-Churum released a special promotional gift box which included Jennie photo cards, a Jennie mini cutout, a Jennie soju glass and a Soonhari Bluetooth microphone.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2014, Korean BBQ restaurant owner, Ham Sun-bok, went viral for making 'so-maek', a cocktail of beer and soju. Lotte made her a brand representative for Chum-Churum, reportedly signing a contract for more than Template:KRWConvert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2017, Chilsung Cider released an advertisement with actor Park Seo-joon and LABOUM singer Solbin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, actor Jung Hae-in became the face of Chilsung Cider.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2024, Lotte Chilsung Beverage's "Saero" is launching new animation content for their new product "Saero Apricot". Actors Park Ji-hoon and Kim Hye-yoon were selected as the endorsers and participated in dubbing the animation for the advertisement campaign.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Antitrust violations
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) fined Chilsung along with four other beverage producers for colluding to raise the prices of their products. The FTC reported that the companies co-ordinated price hikes four times between February 2008 and February 2009. Chilsung was fined Template:KRWConvert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Just a few months later, Chilsung Beverage, in conjunction with three other companies, was found to have been forcing retailers to not lower the price of their products, receiving the largest fine of Template:KRWConvert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2021, Lotte Chilsung was fined almost Template:KRWConvert by the Korean Fair Trade Commission for violating antitrust regulations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- Lotte Corporation subsidiaries
- South Korean brands
- Drink companies of South Korea
- Food and drink companies established in 1950
- Food and drink companies based in Seoul
- Manufacturing companies based in Seoul
- 1950 establishments in South Korea
- PepsiCo bottlers
- Companies listed on the Korea Exchange
- Companies in the KOSPI 200