omonatheydid | Honey Butter Chips Craze takes over Korea

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The lastest trendy snack everyone(including your bias) is talking about

Have you heard about the latest Hallyu craze? It’s not a new K-pop group or a new K-drama starring Lee Min Ho. It’s a potato chip — and it’s so hot that it’s impossible to find in stores in Korea and they are being resold online for well over $100 for three bags! Just how good can this chip be??? Ohhhhh … read on!

chips1

Haetae Confectionary & Foods Co., the second-largest confectionary company in South Korea, just introduced Honey Butter Chip in August, and sales have already gone through the roof. The company is scrambling to hire thousands of new employees to increase production of the popular chip, which the company says is made with “French butter and acacia honey.”

It’s UNBELIEVABLE how quickly these little “chips of heaven” are sold out — within 10 minutes of restocking the shelves NATIONWIDE! Not only that, it’s amazing to see the willingness and persistence of Korean people to get their hands on this snack. It has become so ridiculous to the point that they are limiting the number of bags one person can buy to only TWO, and convenience stores are putting up signs on the door stating that they are OUT of these chips.

(‘No Honey Butter Chips’ sign on GS25 convenience store in Korea)

So just how GOOD can these chips be, right? They’re just potato chips! I mean, you don’t see people going on a shopping craze for Pringles or Kettle Chips, now, do you? But people are seriously bidding on eBay, and the closing bid for three bags of these devil snacks was $122.50 yesterday! Whaaaa?! Are these chips laced with gold?!

Embarrassingly enough, because my husband has hopped on this cray-cray wagon, I have gotten my hands on these impossible-to-find chips and have actually tasted them! It’s funny how my husband was the one acting all nonchalant about it at first, saying stuff like people have gone mad for these chips but it’ll all fade soon, yadayadayada… Now, HE’S the one going to 10 different convenience stores, two different E-mart traders (Korean Costco) in two different area codes … BUT his persistence paid off!

FINALLY got a bag of these chips, plus a bundle of three other snacks from the same company as a “condition” to buy just ONE bag of Honey Butter Chip. Pretty absurd, if you ask me, but kudos to the marketing team at Haetae/Calbee (you devils!). So, my husband calls me, as if he had won the lottery or something, and tells me that “papa is bringing the baby home.” Uhmmm, OK? And of course, he gets home with half of the bag empty. Geez, so much for waiting, huh? Thanks, honey. -.-;;;;

BUT, to my pleasant surprise, these chips … were GOOD — so good, in fact, that I regretted knowing what they tasted like because they were gone all too quickly. But for those of you who HAVE to know what they taste like — Honey Butter Chip tastes like honey butter popcorn in the form of a potato chip. It’s just the right balance of salty and sweet and buttery goodness. Not too sweet to be overwhelming. Juuuuust perfect. #sorrynotsorry #honeybutterchipshell #baghalfempty

Even our favorite celebrities can’t seem to get enough and are showing off their stash of the infamous Honey Butter Chip! Double eye candy! YUM!

TARA's Hyomin

Jaejoong & JKS

Girls Generation's Sooyoung

JooYoung and Hyolyn

BTS Jin

ZE:A's Taehun

Hello Venus

Apink's Bomi

EXO's Chen

Raibow Jisook

INFINITE's Hoya

Miss A's Suzy

Kim Soo Hyun

By Lee Ji-hye

Anyone with a passing interest in mainstream Korean culture has by now heard of the Honey Butter Chip, a product by confectionery firm Haitai that has gained massive popularity in recent weeks.

It seems like people would beg, borrow, and steal to get their hands on these chips, which the company describes as containing "sweet, sweet honey from beehives" and French "gourmet butter."

Many shops have sold out of the product, prompting people to hunt for the chip and vent their frustrations online when they can't find any.

For those lucky enough to find one, a bag of the chip costs around 2,400 won ($2.15). However, the bags are going for almost double the original price at online auctions.

Like it or not, the chip is a phenomenon for now, especially on the Internet. Here are six honey-and-butter flavored trends circulating on the Web right now, which may help explain the buzz surrounding the product.

1. There are conspiracy theories

Given the sudden success, many have offered theories as to how the chip became so popular.

Perhaps the most persistent accusation is that Haitai has deliberately sold out of the product to stoke more demand.

However, an official from Haitai told the Hankook Ilbo that despite working around the clock to produce the chip since the end of September, the company has simply not been able to keep up with demand.

2. ‘One per customer, please'

Demand has been so overwhelming that some convenient stores have posted signs asking customers to buy only one bag each.

"The hours of when the chips come in are between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m." read one poster, which later went viral.

"Supply is always low, so please be understanding and follow our policy of buying only one bag of Honey Butter Chip per person (even groups) for each day."

3. Celebrities are fawning
Broadcaster Park Ji-yoon / Courtesy of Instagram

Actress So Yoo-jin posted a picture of a bag of Honey Butter Chips, along with the comment, "Why do you do this to me? Get away from me! Stop tempting me so much!"

Park Ji-yoon, a former anchor on broadcaster KBS, shared a photo on her Instagram account of herself, holding a bag of Honey Butter Chips. "I can't believe myself for laughing and crying over one bag of chips," she wrote. "But they're so good."

4. It's making people Internet-famous

A Twitter user by the handle of @hodori_love compared the experience of finally obtaining a bag of Honey Butter Chips to purchasing illicit drugs.

"I was wandering around because there were no stores selling the chips, when a worker from a shop saw me," the Twitter user wrote.

"He asked me quietly, 'How many bags do you need?'"

The tweet received more than 5,700 retweets and 450 "favorites" within five days.

In a post on the online community, "Today's Humor," one netizen shared a picture of a bag of Honey Butter Chips taped to three other bags of chips. The post read, "The bundle of four is holding our honey butter chip hostage for 3,300 won!"

Hundreds of people replied to the comment, including one who proclaimed, "I need to save it. Where is this place?"

5. Not everyone's a fan

Online communities and threads with a less-than-flattering perspective on the product have sprouted up as well.

"We are the pigs of the snack industry," an Internet user said in a community on Joonggo Nara a secondhand good forum where the product has been selling. "What they're doing is feeding us manure, so we'll come back for more and more."

6. Desperate times, desperate measures
Courtesy of Twitter

Twitter user @Benedicito has received almost 1,500 retweets for his photo of homemade, honey-flavored, buttery potato chips.

"I went to at least two convenient stores, but I couldn't get them," he wrote.
"So I just bought regular potato chips and put honey and butter on them."

Another Twitter user responded, "You're a genius…I think I'll do the same instead of looking around!"

Source: Hankyeore 21

Article delves into possible reasoning behind the honey butter chips craze going on in Korea right now. "More people are searching for simple and sweet pleasures to counter the hardships in every day life", "It has become the must have item for everyone in Korea", "Stores have begun putting up signs saying they do not have the chips in stock due to the influx of calls asking about them", "Chips are being sold for three times the original price", "Chips went viral on SNS with people uploading pictures of their stash", "Honey butter chip craze will fade once people get tired of the taste".

1. [+36,300, -5,483] Who hasn't tried honey butter chips yet?

2. [+20,379, -988] Someone brought some to my company a few days ago so I tried some... it's not a taste that I'd go crazy over. It's too hyped ㅋㅋ it'll die down once the hype fades.

3. [+18,065, -943] The chips' success is entirely behind its marketing...

4. [+15,480, -659] All this to buy some chips? It looks like we're in war ㅋ

5. [+14,856, -1,670] It really doesn't taste like anything special...

6. [+2,535, -85] The taste is below average. I remember just a while ago people were begging to boycott Korean chips because of how full of air the bags were but look at the craze one bag of chips can change. Koreans are so easy to fool.

7. [+2,369, -65] Just wait a few months, the hype will fade and the chips will be sold 3 for 1 special. ㅋㅋ

8. [+2,057, -57] I found one bag at the supermarket so I put it in my cart and while I was away, someone took it... These chips are turning people into such disrespectful fools..

9. [+1,968, -58] Just don't eat it if you can't find it, why are people justifying paying three times the price for it...

10. [+1,624, -31] I'm happy because all of the other chips are on sale thanks to honey butter chip ㅋㅋㅋ

Source:Arirang Issue, Viki Blog,Korea Times,NetizenBuzz