Vietnamese customers drink soju at the HiteJinro Soju Club pop-up store in Hanoi on Aug. 5, 2018. Courtesy of HiteJinro

By Kim Jae-heun

Korean food firms have been riding high on the popularity of hallyu, or the Korean wave, in Vietnam, building a loyal customer base among young people there, according to company officials Friday.

More than half of the Vietnamese population are under 35 and one out of four people there are under 15. Young people have a great deal of interest in hallyu, enabling Korean companies to establish a strong foothold in the rapidly growing Southeast Asian market.

Even in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean foods, snack and alcoholic beverages sold well in Vietnam for their distinctive taste designed especially to suit the Vietnamese palate.

Orion's Choco Pie products / Courtesy of Orion

Orion, Korea's largest confectionery firm, achieved 102.5 billion won ($80.95 million) in sales in the first quarter of this year, which is up by 23.7 percent, year-on-year. Its operating profit also increased by 18.6 percent to 18.6 billion won in the same period.

Orion's signature dessert Choco Pie is the best-selling snack in Vietnam currently. Sales of its O'Star potato chips also recorded 31.8 billion won in Vietnam last year to became the top-selling potato chip brand there. Orion introduced special flavors such as steak, barbecue and kimchi for O'Star that are available only in Vietnam.

"The domestic food market is already saturated so we had to look at overseas markets. We have successfully targeted the local market by learning Vietnamese culture and offering what they like. This strategy has resulted in some notable business accomplishments there," an Orion official said.

HiteJinro, Korea's largest liquor maker, entered the Vietnamese alcohol beverage market with its fruit-flavored soju products. The company believed sweet liquors would satisfy local customers, who live in hot weather all year along.

HiteJinro also opened a Korean-style "pocha" restaurant in Hanoi, where Vietnamese can indirectly experience Korean nightlife. Pocha is a vendor in a street or other public places that serves street food. It became popular there instantly and HiteJinro opened two more pocha restaurants over three years.

"We thought introducing unique and distinctive pocha-style restaurants would attract local customers' attention, which it did. We focused on what Vietnamese customers would like rather than just offering them what is popular in Korea," a HiteJinro official said.

Korean bakery chain Tous Les Jours opened a brasserie in Vietnam, where young customers can eat various desserts and drink coffee.

"In Korea, we only operate bakery stores where customers mostly place to-go orders. Here in Vietnam, we realize there aren't many places where young people can go on a date or hang out. So we decided to open a restaurant-style bakery," a Tous Les Jours official said.