Pepero (), also "

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

-covered

pretzel A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baking, baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twi ...

stick", is a thin

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

stick dipped in

compound chocolate Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to pure chocolate ''(())'' as it uses less-expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or palm kernel ...

. Pepero has been manufactured by

Lotte Wellfood Lotte Wellfood Co., Ltd. (), formerly Lotte Confectionery, is a South Korean international confectionery company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. The company was established in 1967. Currently, it is the third-largest chewing gum manufacturer ...

in South Korea since 1983. Pepero is mostly made up of

cocoa mass Chocolate liquor, also called cocoa liquor, paste or mass, is pure cocoa in liquid or semi-solid form. It is produced from cocoa bean nibs that have been fermented, dried, roasted, and separated from their skins. The nibs are ground to the point ...

and

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

. It is exported to approximately 64 countries worldwide and is especially popular in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Pepero has been awarded numerous times for its sales and designs.

Flavors

Pepero is manufactured in several flavors (as of 2024): * Chocolate (original) *

Strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

(Korea only) *

Almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

(coated with chocolate and almond bits) * Choco-filled (Pepero cookie stick filled with chocolate; the opposite of an original chocolate Pepero) * Plain cream cheese * White cookie *

Peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

(US only) *Haenam

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

es (will be available later in Korea) *Haenam Green Tea *Crunchy *Choco Cookie *Crunky *Crunky Granola *Snowy Almond (coated with white chocolate and almond bits) *Pepero Skinny ( A thin version of the Original Chocolate Pepero )

Marketing

The most prominent marketing strategy that Lotte Confectionery Corporation implements is held annually on November 11. The marketing strategy company takes improves every year. Due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, sales have been difficult. Hence, the company made an adjustment in marketing by live broadcast and delivery. Lotte Confectionery Corporation launched an exotic ice cream 'Pepero-bar' in limited time. Ice cream 'Pepero-bar' has used the originality feature of Pepero by covering with

almond The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', Synonym (taxonomy)#Botany, syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera ...

and displaying "Pepero friends" character as packaging to attract consumers.

Sales

About 60% of the annual Pepero sales occur around Pepero Day, which is held on November 11. Pepero sales have reached a record high of about 1.1 trillion won in terms of supply prices until 2016. Pepero has successfully settled in the market by advertising Pepero Day. On average, Pepero's daily sales on Pepero Day are about 84 times higher than usual. Lotte Confectionery Corporation actively participates in social contribution with its profits on Pepero since the sales increase every year. The major export regions such as Singapore, China, Russia, and the United States play a big stake in Pepero's sales.

Awards

* Watsons Best Selling Snack Award- 2012 * Watsons Best Selling Biscuit Award- 2014 * Watsons Best Selling Korean Biscuit Award- 2015 * Germany's Red Dot Design Award- 2019 * Germany's iF Design Award- 2020

Social Contribution

The company donates Pepero to needy neighbors and social organizations. With its record sales and profits, Lotte contributes to establish the local children's center.

Criticism

Pepero has been criticized for copying

Pocky is a Japanese sweet snack food produced by the Ezaki Glico food company. Pocky was first sold in 1966, and was invented by Yoshiaki Koma. It consists of coated biscuit sticks. It was named after the Japanese onomatopoeic word , which is suppo ...

, which has been manufactured by Japan's

Ezaki Glico , commonly known as Glico, is a Japanese multinational food processing company headquartered in Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka. It does business across 30 countries, in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Overview Ezaki Glico's primary busin ...

Company since 1966. Lotte denies that it was inspired by the product. The Pocky product was introduced over 17 years before in the market. Ezaki Glico's Pocky and Lotte Confectionery's Pepero have a long history and known as rival companies in chocolate-covered stick (pretzel). Since the content of Pocky and Pepero is the same, it is difficult to distinguish the difference between the two products. Ezaki Glico filed a lawsuit against Lotte Confectionery about the trademark, and the shape of the originality of Pocky since Pocky has entered the United States market before Lotte Confectionery's Pepero. Lotte Confectionery could design partially chocolate-based snacks in a different shape from Pocky. However, the court saw that only this factor could not offset the functionality of Pocky's design. Lotte Confectionery Corporation won the case because the judge concluded that Pocky's product appearance cannot be protected by trade dress due to its functionality. In 2014, Glico sued Lotte which allegedly copied packaging box design of Glico's Baton d'or exclusive series of Pocky and

Pretz Pretz (プリッツ, ''Purittsu'') is a Japanese snack made by Ezaki Glico. Like Ezaki Glico's other popular snack, Pocky, Pretz is stick-shaped and comes with a texture similar to pretzels. Unlike Pocky, Pretz is dusted with seasonings instead ...

for Lotte's new product Premier Pepero. On 14 August 2015, Seoul district court ruled that Lotte stole the box design of Glico's products and the ruling is expected to force Lotte to halt its sales of the product and dispose of the existing stock. On July 10, 2015, Glico filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against Lotte USA for infringing on the trademarks of Pocky. Glico had registered the Pocky's three-dimensional trademarks prior to the launch of Pepero in the U.S. Pocky-Sticks

Pepero Day

The date is set to

November 11 Events Pre-1600 * 308 – At Carnuntum, Emperor ''emeritus'' Diocletian confers with Galerius, '' Augustus'' of the East, and Maximianus, the recently returned former ''Augustus'' of the West, in an attempt to end the civil wars of th ...

, annually. Farmer's Day is also held in November 11 and referred it as a Garae Tteok Day. Pepero Day was derived from a middle school girl student in

Yeongnam Yeongnam (, ; literally "south of the ridge") is a region that coincides with the former Gyeongsang Province, one of the ancient Eight Provinces, in what is now South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a countr ...

district of South Korea. They exchanged Pepero by saying "Let's be tall and skinny" with well-wishing remarks. Nowadays, couples make Pepero or purchase it from the market in exchange with their gratitude to convey affection. As Pepero day comes to date, the sales of manufacturing companies drastically increase.