• First Korean bakery product to enter U.S. Costco
• Sales at around 100 Costco stores on the U.S. West Coast starting in September
• Exported to 15 countries, including Vietnam and the Middle East, sales up 20 percent year over year
• Spreading the appeal of K-desserts through global market expansion
Samlip Cheesecake will enter Costco, a major U.S. membership warehouse club, as the first Korean bakery product to do so.
With this, Samlip is expanding its Costco presence beyond yakgwa to bakery products, and will accelerate its drive to capture global markets for K-desserts.
Beginning in late September 2025, Samlip Cheesecake will be sold at about 100 Costco stores on the U.S. West Coast, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Samlip plans to hold tasting events at select stores so that local consumers can directly experience the product’s taste and quality. The company is also preparing to enter FreshCo, a large Canadian supermarket chain.
Samlip Cheesecake features a subtle and delicate flavor with cream cheese and achieves a soft, pleasantly chewy texture through a proprietary manufacturing method that combines Western baking with Eastern steaming. The lineup consists of a total of seven types, namely Original, Chocolate, Banana, Strawberry, Mocha, Sweet Potato, and Melon. With rich aroma and a clean taste, the product is intended to differentiate itself in the U.S. dessert market, where sweeter profiles are common.
Samlip Cheesecake is currently exported to 15 countries, including Vietnam and markets in the Middle East, and as of the first half of 2025, it is showing growth, with overseas sales up more than 20 percent year over year. In Vietnam, it enjoys strong popularity among local consumers through major retail channels such as WinMart and Circle K, and in the Middle East it continues to be sold at Carrefour, LuLu Hypermarket, and Monoprix.
A Samlip official said, “From yakgwa and hotteok to Cheesecake, we will promote the unique appeal of K-desserts in more countries and further strengthen our presence in global markets.”
Meanwhile, last year Samlip accelerated its push into global markets by placing yakgwa, one of the representative K-desserts, in more than 200 Costco stores in the United States. This marked an expansion beyond Asian grocery channels in the United States such as H Mart and Hannam Chain into mainstream retail, and the company is rapidly increasing global recognition, as evidenced by the attention it received at Anuga, the world’s largest food trade fair.
According to Global Market Insights, the U.S. bakery market is estimated at about USD 45.7 billion as of 2024 and is growing at more than 5 percent annually. In 2024, exports of Korean bakery products, including bread, confectionery, and ingredients, reached approximately USD 404 million, the highest level on record.