Orion’s Tourist Biscuit Is Headed to Costco. Buldak Already Owns Walmart.

Orion said on September 10 that Bichobi, the chocolate sandwich biscuit Korean tourists haul out of Seoul Station and Incheon Airport, will enter 37 Costco stores in Japan in October and Costco in the United States early next year. Domestic sales from January through August were up 53 percent from a year earlier. The company doubled Bichobi capacity at its Iksan plant in April so it could free up export volume.

The move follows a path Orion has already tested. Kkobuk Chip, the layered turtle snack, entered U.S. Costco years ago and kept widening. Cham Bungeoppang, the fish-shaped cake, landed in more than 300 American Costco warehouses in early 2025, and U.S. exports jumped after that push. Prove the SKU at home, let travelers do the marketing, then sell the case pack to membership clubs.

Orion’s own outlet data makes the tourist case concrete. Bichobi’s top ten domestic sellers this year were travel hubs: Seoul Station, Busan’s Jagalchi Market, Seokchon Lake in Jamsil, Gimpo and Incheon airports, Jeju. Korea Edition and National Museum packaging leans into the souvenir buy. An Orion official said the company wants to apply the same overseas-retailer strategy that grew Kkobuk Chip and Cham Bungeoppang into bigger global lines.

American shoppers already know Orion in warehouse sizes. Chocolate-churro Kkobuk bags cycle through Costco. Bichobi is the next souvenir the company is trying to graduate onto that same shelf.

Samyang Foods is further along the same retail ladder. Buldak sauces are at Walmart. Buldak tteokbokki bowls reached U.S. Costco warehouses in February 2026 after earlier placements at Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and Target. In April, Samyang America launched Buldak Mac & Cheese as a Walmart exclusive through late fall, in Sweet Corn and Carbonara, putting the chile-chicken heat into boxed comfort food instead of only ramen.

Samyang America CEO Youngsik Shin cast the mac-and-cheese launch as a way to stretch a heat brand into a new meal slot. Walk a Walmart aisle and the point is obvious: bottles, rice-cake bowls, and pasta boxes now sit beside the noodles.

Even smaller players are raising money against that map. NewHeritage, a seaweed-snack startup selling seasoned gim and gim nachos under brands such as SEAART FOOD, took about 1 billion won in seed funding from CNTTech on September 4. It already ships to more than a dozen countries, including the United States, and plans to use the round for overseas channels and R&D. That is another bet U.S. grocery demand for Korean snacks keeps growing.

Stack the announcements and the channel story is clear. Orion is lining Bichobi up behind turtle chips and fish cakes at Costco. Samyang is stretching Buldak across Walmart and Costco with sauce, tteokbokki, and mac and cheese. October’s Japan Costco drop is the next date buyers can mark.