Lotte Confectionery

Lotte Confectionery (Hangul: 롯데제과) (KRX: ) is a South Korean company headquartered in Yangpyeong-dong Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea. It is a subsidiary company of Lotte Group and a sister company of leading Polish confectionery company E. Wedel after the parent Lotte group completed a takeover from Kraft Foods in June 2010.

Lotte Confectionery was established in 1967 and its plants are located in Seoul, Daejeon, Yangsan, Pyeongtaek and Siheung. Currently, it is the third largest chewing gum manufacturer in the world.

Although later considered one of South Korea's largest companies, Lotte's origins actually traced back to post-World War II Japan. During the war, Shin Kyuk-ho, a native of Korea, came to Tokyo to study at a technical college in 1941 at the age of 19. After graduating, Shin remained in Japan, adopting the Japanese name of Takeo Shigemitsu. By 1946, Shigemitsu decided to go into business for himself, launching the Hikara Special Chemical Research Institute. This company produced soaps and cosmetics from surplus chemicals stocks left over from the war.

That company, although small, provided the basis for Shigemitsu's first fortune, and within a year he had amassed enough capital to launch a new company, dedicated to production of chewing gum. Introduced by American soldiers following the war, chewing gum quickly became popular among Japanese consumers eager to embrace all things American. In 1948, Shigemitsu founded Lotte Co., with ten employees. Shigemitsu's choice of the company's name came from his admiration for Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther, particularly the character of Charlotte. Using natural chicle, Lotte launched a number of chewing gum brands, including Orange Gum, Lotte Gum, Cowboy Gum, Mable Gum, and the highly popular Baseball Gum. The company backed up its products with strong advertising support, becoming one of the first in Japan to sponsor television programs, as well as its own baseball team and other event s, such as beauty pageants. In the mid-1950s, the company sponsored the country's Antarctic Research Expedition Team, developing a chewing gum for the effort's training program. The company then launched the gum, known as Cool Mint Gum, for the consumer market, in 1956.