Samyang Foods' spicy ramyeon Buldak brand burns past 10 billion packs sold

Samyang Foods announced Friday that cumulative sales of its Buldak ramyeon series surpassed 10 billion packs as of the end of May, generating 7 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in revenue since its launch in 2012.

The series began with the original Buldak Bokkeum Myeon — often marketed internationally as “fire chicken instant noodles” — and has since grown into a global megabrand sold in more than 100 countries. After hitting 1 billion cumulative packs sold in 2017, the brand has sustained steady growth and now sells around 2 billion packs a year worldwide.

To mark the milestone, Samyang Foods said it will launch a new next-generation character called Peppo on its domestic product packaging. Peppo is a chick character whose backstory has it hatching from an egg laid by Hochi — the chicken character that has long appeared on Buldak Bokkeum Myeon packaging — after Hochi ate a chili pepper. Peppo was developed by Samyang Aani, a Samyang Foods subsidiary, and made its debut in July 2024 on the official Peppo YouTube channel. The new Buldak packaging featuring Peppo is set to be rolled out across sauce and noodle products starting this month.

Samyang Foods said it plans to use Peppo to strengthen the Buldak brand's intellectual property and expand beyond food into areas including digital content and brand merchandise. “Peppo, which was first introduced on product packaging for the North American market, received an enthusiastic response from local consumers,” a Samyang Aani representative said. “To engage more deeply with younger generations who are familiar with online environments, we developed Peppo as a next-generation character.”

BY NOH YU-RIM [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]