South Korea
Kangwon
The Hite Co., Ltd.
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Hite Brewery (President & CEO: Yun, Jongwoong), which has sorely dedicated itself to the beer industry, first opened business as Korea’s first beer company in 1933, producing ‘Sapporo Beer’.
Hite Brewery bought a site (100,000 pyung) to construct the factory on, then, Youngdeungpo Eup, in Shiheung County, Gyunggi, and the construction of the factory was completed in December 1933, the beginning of Korea’s beer history. It started with 6 million won in capital.
In 1945, after the independence from Japanese colonial ruling, the company went under the governance of US Military Government Administration, and Min Dukgi, the grandson of Min Daegi (son of Min Young-ik, a well-known and respected scholar) was invited to become the top manager. At the same time, the brand name was changed to ‘Crown Beer’ while the company name remained the same, Chosun Beer Brewery Co., Ltd.
After having gone through trouble and hardship, the company was taken over by Park family, the current owner of the company. In 1969, incumbent Chairman, Park KyongBok began to run the company.
In 1977, the company went through expansion by acquiring Handok Brewery Co., which was producing Esenberg beer in Masan. In 1987, Park Moonhyo, the first son of the chairman, became the president, followed by Kim Jugon in 1989. It was March 1991 when Park Moonduk became the president of the company. In 1968, Crown Beer won Gold Medal at ICSP, receiving international recognition. That opened door to overseas market, and the company got listed in Korea Stock Exchange in August 1973.
At that time, the capacity of Youngdeungpo factory was 4240kl. Now, with the completion of Kangwon Plant, which has the largest production capacity as a single unit, and closure of the Youngdeungpo plant, Hite’s production capacity reached 960,000kl (96 million boxes a year). Under the leadership of CEO, Park Moonduk, Hite Brewery has been proactive in responding to changing environments and transformed itself to an organization that serves the customer first, departing from the conservative old-style management.
(Info from: The Hite Co., Ltd., 2002)
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