Harim Industry: how its people are moving

Banseog note · Oct 24, 2026

Harim Industry — The plants are built; now utilization and losses must be fixed

Where it stands now

Efficiency after investment wraps up — facilities are in place, but utilization is low and losses are large

2025 revenue passed KRW 100 billion for the first time at KRW 109.4 billion (+36%), but the operating loss was also its largest at KRW 146.7 billion. Cumulative losses over the five years since The Misik launched in 2021 are about KRW 530 billion, and the group put in about KRW 240 billion through rights offerings in 2021–2025.

Q1 2026 revenue was KRW 26.1 billion, and promotion costs were KRW 7.3 billion (27.9% of revenue). In the same quarter, plant utilization was 25.7% for frozen foods, 49.3% for noodles, 20.4% for sauces and 37.5% for instant rice.

On Korea's National Pension Service public workplace data, 661 people were on the pension register in August 2026, 76 fewer (−10.3%) than in October 2025. This coincides with a period of low utilization and large losses, but specific causes such as layoffs or reassignment are not known.

Three decisions within a year

1. Production and logistics investment wrapping up: the ramen plant grew from two lines in 2022 to four, and the noodle line expansion (KRW 40.3 billion) was pushed back from March to June 2026. The KRW 150 billion food logistics center FBH is linked directly to the plant by conveyor.
2. Product direction: instant rice has widened from mainly white rice to multigrain and seasonal limited products, for 16 varieties (new-crop rice relaunched 2026-10-12). However, critics continue to point out that among more than 100 products there is no flagship item and that sales lean on 1+1 discounts.
3. Yangjae site: on the 86,000 m² site in Yangjae-dong, Seoul, bought in 2016, it has planned an urban high-tech logistics complex worth KRW 6.8712 trillion in total. In May 2026 the Seoul Metropolitan Government's architecture committee voted for a re-review, making the construction start date uncertain again.

Three people it will look for

1. Production management and cost control — someone to consolidate lines running at 20–50% utilization and lower costs
2. Sales and channel strategy (pricing and promotion) — someone to protect sales while cutting promotion costs of about 28% of revenue
3. Product portfolio planning — someone to pick flagship items among more than 100 products and prune the rest

For HR

Overall headcount is falling, yet hires and departures are frequent. Rather than hiring more people, the first step is to put in production and cost leaders who can raise utilization, and to hold on to skilled production staff.

For job seekers

Experience raising utilization at a food plant or cutting losses by reducing the number of products is what this company needs most now.

A reading written from public sources. Sources: Coverage of 2025 results (2026-04-03, 06-15, 06-17), financial analysis of The Misik (2026-02-06), coverage of Q1 utilization and promotion costs (2026-06-15), coverage of Iksan First Kitchen and FBH (2026-03-14, 06-12, 10-02), coverage of the Yangjae site re-review vote (2026-05-07), new-crop rice relaunch (2026-10-12). Team size is from Korea's pension register.