"Even Queuing Can't Get You One": Yellow Cheese Chips Frenzy Spurs 5x Markups... The World of Limited-Edition Snacks [Matjalal X-File]

140 Limited Editions Released in the Past Three Years
Familiar Products Reinvented with Unique Flavors
From Fruity Varieties to Matcha and Dujjonku-Inspired Trends

Orion Moist Yellow Cheese Chip. Instagram Capture

Orion's spring limited edition "Moist Yellow Cheese Chip" has become a hot topic. Since its launch on February 26, it has attracted so much consumer attention that it has become difficult to find in online shopping malls, large supermarkets, and convenience stores within just two weeks. A quick search on the secondhand marketplace Danggeun Market shows a listing at the top offering a box of 16 packs (320g) for 20,000 won. Considering that the retail price at large supermarkets is 4,480 won, the secondhand price has risen nearly fivefold.

Due to overwhelming demand, Orion has decided to produce more Yellow Cheese Chips. The company plans to produce and sell an additional 200,000 boxes next month, which is about half of the initial batch of 380,000 boxes. The ability to secure the core ingredient, yellow cheese, was the key factor in determining the additional production volume. Whether further production or regular sales will follow, Orion stated, "We plan to review the situation after monitoring the market."

When it comes to limited-edition snacks, these usually refer to products sold in predetermined quantities over two to three months. Do you remember the 2014 shortage of "Honey Butter Chip"? As people experienced the phenomenon of "snacks you can't get even if you wait in line," a wave of limited-edition products began to appear in the mid-2010s. With the rapid spread of certification photos on social networking services (SNS), snack companies are using limited editions as a marketing strategy.

Over the past three years, the four major snack companies (Lotte Wellfood, Orion, Haitai, and Nongshim) have released about 140 limited-edition snacks. Except for Nongshim, which released three limited-edition packs of Saewookkang and Onion Rings over three years, Lotte Wellfood, Orion, and Haitai have actively pursued limited-edition marketing.

Most limited-edition products are variations of flagship products, often by changing ingredients like the cream in the snack. Examples include Orion's "Choco Pie Jeong Watermelon," Haitai's "Home Run Ball Matcha Strawberry," and Lotte Wellfood's "Pepero Matcha." For snack companies, this is a customized marketing approach that gives consumers a sense of both familiarity and novelty by changing only some ingredients without making major changes to the production system.

The recently hugely popular "Moist Yellow Cheese Chip" is also a limited edition product in which yellow cheese was used instead of chocolate in the "Moist Choco Chip." There are even rumors that, because the yellow cheese flavor is so strong during production, it was difficult to get rid of the yellow cheese smell when switching back to chocolate after making the yellow cheese chips.

The snack industry sees the success of the Yellow Cheese Chip as unusual. Until now, spring limited editions have mostly featured refreshing fruits such as strawberries. This was based on the belief that the warm spring weather pairs well with fruity flavors. Orion's Yellow Cheese Chip broke with this tradition by applying yellow cheese, which is trending among Millennials & Gen Z, and achieved success.

Looking at limited-edition snacks released over the past three years, most have featured seasonal fruits.

Limited editions using strawberries, the "traditional powerhouse," are released every year. Examples include Lotte Wellfood's "Moncher Strawberry Fresh Cream Cake" (February 2024), "Pepero Strawberry & Milk" (January this year), Orion's "Choco Pie Jeong Strawberry" (January 2025), and "Bichobi Strawberry" (September 2025). There have also been many cases where refreshing fruits have been used, such as Haitai's "Sand Ace Pink Lemon" (February 2023), "Honey Butter Chip Apple Butter" (May 2024), and "French Pie Blueberry" (August 2023). In the fall, there have been limited-edition products using chestnuts or sweet potatoes, like Lotte Wellfood's "Moncher Buyeo Chestnut" and "Custard Sweet Potato Latte."

In the past year or two, limited editions reflecting SNS trends and targeting consumer tastes have also emerged. A representative example is Lotte Wellfood's limited-edition "Binch Premier Matcha," launched in May last year. It was released in response to the worldwide matcha craze and was so popular that it was converted to a regular sales product. Haitai has recently reflected the Dubai dessert trend in their snacks, launching the "Dubai Style" series that reinterprets pistachio in products like Home Run Ball and Butter Ring.

The Yellow Cheese Chip is also a product that reflects these trends. As a result, Orion's customer center continues to receive requests to make the wildly popular Yellow Cheese Chip a regular product.

If a limited-edition product sells well, why not just make it a regular product? While consumers may think this, snack companies say they consider several factors. First, from a corporate perspective, profitability cannot be ignored. Whether they can continuously source the raw ingredients is also a key variable in determining profitability. At the same time, they need to consider whether the popularity of the limited-edition product will last. Given that consumer taste trends change rapidly, as seen with products like "Dujjonku" and "Butter Tteok," companies must monitor the situation before making a decision.

There have been cases where successful limited-edition products have become regular products. Orion's "Choco Pie Jeong Watermelon" and "Fresh Berry Melon" have been released three years in a row since their 2023 launch. The Choco Pie Watermelon was also introduced in overseas branches in China, Russia, and Vietnam. According to an industry insider, "We review various factors before making a decision, such as whether the limited-edition product cannibalizes sales of the original product, and whether it has to share limited shelf space with the original product in convenience stores."

Whether Yellow Cheese Chip will become a regular product remains to be seen by consumers. We will continue to watch for which limited-edition snacks will delight consumers next.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.