Going Against the Grain
When most Korean food companies were racing to get their products onto American supermarket shelves, Orion quietly made a very different bet. Instead of chasing the world's biggest consumer market, the Korean confectionery giant turned its attention to emerging markets — Vietnam, Russia, China, and India — and instead of exporting products, it built factories and distribution networks right on the ground. So here's the thing: that counterintuitive strategy is now paying off in a big way.
According to industry figures released in mid-June 2026, Orion posted consolidated revenue of 930.4 billion Korean won in the first quarter of this year, a 16 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Operating profit climbed even faster, up 26 percent to 165.5 billion won. But the number that really turns heads? For the first time in the company's history, overseas sales accounted for more than 70 percent of total revenue — hitting 72 percent, to be exact. In other words, Orion has officially become a global company that also happens to sell snacks back home in Korea.
The Choco Pie That Became a Cultural Icon
At the center of this story is a product almost every Korean grew up eating: Choco Pie. If you're not familiar with it, think of a soft, marshmallow-filled chocolate-covered cake — humble, affordable, and deeply nostalgic for anyone who went to school in Korea. Back home, it's been a beloved everyday snack for decades. But what Orion managed to do with it abroad is genuinely fascinating.
In Vietnam, Choco Pie is not just a snack. It has become what locals call a "national treat," showing up as a holiday gift during Tet (the Vietnamese Lunar New Year) and as a token of gratitude at weddings. The product currently holds a 63 percent share of Vietnam's entire pie snack market, and annual sales have surpassed 500 million units. With Vietnam's population sitting at around 100 million people, that works out to more than five Choco Pies per person every year. Let that sink in for a moment.
What's really interesting is how Orion pulled this off. Rather than leaning into the "imported Korean product" angle — which can work in the short term but tends to limit a brand to a niche audience — the company deliberately positioned Choco Pie as a local product. Orion set up a Vietnam subsidiary as far back as 2005, meaning the pies sold there are made in Vietnam, distributed through Vietnamese networks, and marketed in Vietnamese.
"Choco Pie has become Vietnam's national snack through its steady original popularity combined with locally tailored products," an Orion spokesperson said. "Through localized marketing using the Vietnamese word 'Tinh' — which carries a similar meaning to the Korean concept of 'Jeong,' or deep emotional bonds between people — it has naturally become a part of everyday life and is beloved as a holiday and anniversary gift."
That word "Jeong" is worth explaining for global readers. In Korean culture, Jeong refers to a warm, deep affection that builds between people over time — it is the feeling you get for someone or something that has been with you through life's moments, big and small. By finding a Vietnamese equivalent and building their marketing around it, Orion managed to give Choco Pie genuine emotional resonance in a completely different cultural context. That is not easy to do.
A Model Built for the Long Game
Vietnam is just one piece of the puzzle. Orion has replicated variations of this playbook in Russia and India as well, setting up local production facilities in both countries. In Russia, Choco Pie has also grown into a recognizable brand in its own right, maintaining stable supply chains and market presence even amid geopolitical uncertainty — no small feat in recent years. Meanwhile, the Chinese and Indian subsidiaries continue to grow, helping Orion reduce its dependence on any single country.
Looking at the May 2026 monthly figures gives us a more granular picture of how each market is performing. Vietnam's subsidiary recorded net sales of 40.1 billion won, up 13 percent year-on-year. Russia was the standout performer, with net sales of 36.9 billion won — a 27.2 percent year-on-year increase — and operating profit surging 51.4 percent. China posted net sales of 123.7 billion won, up 20.8 percent compared to a year ago. The domestic Korean operation, by contrast, saw a slight dip, with net sales of 100.4 billion won representing a 2.6 percent year-on-year decline.
It is worth noting that some of the overseas gains were amplified by favorable exchange rates. In May, the Chinese yuan strengthened 13.3 percent, the Russian ruble 17.7 percent, and the Vietnamese dong 5.8 percent against the Korean won — all of which boosted the reported won-value of overseas earnings. Analysts point out that whether the growth is structural or partially currency-driven will be a key question going forward.
Why the Industry Is Taking Notes
The broader K-Food wave has been riding high on the back of Hallyu — the Korean cultural phenomenon encompassing K-pop, K-dramas, and Korean cuisine. Many Korean food companies have rightly capitalized on that momentum by pushing into U.S. retailers and riding the trend. But as competition for shelf space in American stores intensifies, Orion's approach offers an alternative template: go early, go local, and go deep.
Industry observers say Orion's success illustrates that sustainable global competitiveness in food isn't just about having a trendy product or a famous home market — it's about embedding yourself so thoroughly into the daily habits of consumers in a given country that you stop being foreign entirely. That takes years, sometimes decades, of investment. Orion started building its Vietnam operation over twenty years ago. The payoff is visible now.
A New Home to Match a New Identity
To match its evolving global ambitions, Orion has also made a symbolic organizational change. On June 8, 2026, the company officially relocated its headquarters from Munbae-dong in Yongsan-gu — where it had been based for approximately 70 years since its founding as Dongyang Confectionery in 1956 — to a brand-new office building in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, in southern Seoul.
The new headquarters, a ten-story building located near Maebong Station on Seoul Subway Line 3, has been designed to function as a global control tower. With overseas revenue now making up roughly 70 percent of the company's total, the thinking is that the home base needs to be structured to manage and coordinate international operations more efficiently. Orion says the focus will be on centralizing R&D and global business coordination while speeding up decision-making across its multinational structure.
The old Munbae-dong site, for its part, is slated for redevelopment into a mixed-use residential and commercial complex — the Seoul city government has already approved the relevant urban planning changes, though a concrete development timeline has not yet been announced.
The Bigger Picture
Orion's story is a reminder that there is more than one way to take a brand global. The Choco Pie did not conquer Vietnam by being Korean — it did so by becoming Vietnamese. That distinction might sound subtle, but it represents a fundamentally different philosophy about what it means to succeed in a foreign market. And right now, with 72 percent of its revenue coming from outside Korea and some of the strongest growth numbers in its recent history, the results speak for themselves.
This article is based on reports from Inews24, Theguru, Popcornnews.
