Chaebol heir takes Nongshim chair
Nongshim Vice Chairman Shin Dong-won addresses mourners at the funeral of his father, Chairman Shin Choon-ho, in Seoul, March 30. Courtesy of Nongshim
By Kim Jae-heun
Nongshim heir Shin Dong-won, eldest son of late Chairman Shin Choon-ho, has successfully opened his era in the food company.
His recently deceased father made the succession plan clear long ago and Shin the younger now fulfils that vision.
The heir plans to expand the company's instant noodle business to the global market while adding home meal replacement (HMR) items and health functional foods to the firm's business portfolio. Shin will focus on building the company as a general food enterprise.
Shin chose mineral water and HMR as its new growth engines.
Nongshim's mineral water brand Baeksansu, launched in 2012, already ranks third in the local industry with an 8 percent market share. The firm achieved 100 million won net profit in 2019 and last year the figure soared to 6 billion won.
Nongshim's HMR business has just begun. It introduced the meal-kit brand Cooktam in 2017 but it has yet to catch up on market leaders CJ CheilJedang, Dongwon Food & Beverage and Daesang.
The HMR business is what Shin needs to show his capability. During a regular general shareholders' meeting on March 25, Shin also mentioned meat alternatives as another of the company's important new businesses.
Nongshim launched the brand Veggie Garden recently, combining meat alternatives and HMR products.
The food firm is currently building a second manufacturing facility in the United States to target the South American market. Construction began in 2019 and Nongshim invested $200 million in the project.
Meanwhile, the death of Shin Choon-ho is likely to reconcile Nongshim with Lotte Group.
Shin Choon-ho is the younger brother of Shin Kyuk-ho, the late founder of retail giant Lotte Group.
Before Shin Choon-ho died last Saturday, he expressed his hope of sharing “a close bond with family.” This is interpreted as his hope for his family to rebuild relations with the Lotte Group family.
The conflict between the two brothers started in 1965 when Shin Kyuk-ho opposed Shin Choon-ho's plan to start an instant noodle business. The younger Shin ended up establishing an independent company named Lotte Food Industrial Company, but had to change the name to Nongshim when his older brother banned him from using the Lotte name.
The two had a falling out and did not participate in family gatherings together for over half a century.
The bitterness between the families of the two Shin brothers broke when older brother Shin Kyuk-ho died in January 2020. Shin Choon-ho sent his son Shin Dong-won to offer condolences.
At Shin Choon-ho's funeral, Shin Kyuk-ho's eldest daughter Shin Young-ja was in attendance. Shin Dong-bin was not able to attend as he lives in Japan. Instead, he sent a wreath as an offering of condolence.