Samyang Foods, South Korea’s pioneer in instant ramyeon, found itself tasting defeat in the 1980s, when Nongshim stirred up the market and expanded into the nation’s dominant noodle maker.

Yet, with overseas appetites for K-food growing, Samyang appears to be cooking up a comeback -- last year it served up twice the operating profit from only half the revenue pie of its larger rival Nongshim.

August 1961: Samyang Foods was founded by Jeon Jung-yoon. The company introduced the nation’s first ramyeon, Samyang Ramen, two years later in 1963.

September 1965: Shin Choon-ho, the younger brother of Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, established Lotte Industrial Company, which was rebranded as Nongshim in 1978.

1969: Samyang held an 83.3 percent market share, while Nongshim had only 16.7 percent.

1985: Nongshim edged out Samyang in the market for the first time, holding a 40.4 percent share versus Samyang’s 39.6 percent. Its ascent was powered by its hit products -- Neoguri (1982), Ansungtangmyun (1983) and Shin Ramyun (1986).

April 2012: Samyang launched its Buldak series, a viral sensation that propelled the company into an era of renewed growth that continues today.

2023: Nongshim had five brands in the top 10 in terms of domestic market share in 2023, with Shin Ramyun leading at 16.05 percent. Samyang Foods placed two brands in the ranking -- Buldak at 6.16 percent and Samyang Ramen at 2.98 percent.

Sales: Nongshim maintained its market leadership last year with 3.43 trillion won ($2.37 billion) in annual revenue in 2024 -- double the 1.73 trillion won posted by Samyang Foods.

In 2022, the market leader logged an annual revenue of 3.12 trillion won, triple Samyang's 909 billion won.

Operating profits: Samyang Foods leapt past its longtime rival in operating profits with a record 344.2 billion won last year -- a 133 percent on-year surge -- while Nongshim's profit slid 23.1 percent to 163.1 billion won.

Just a year earlier, Nongshim led with an operating profit of 212 billion won, compared to Samyang's 147.5 billion won.

Samyang's overseas sales ratio rose from 43 percent in 2018 to 50 percent in 2019 and 61 percent in 2021. The ratio reached 67 percent in 2022 and climbed further to 78 percent of total revenue in the third quarter of last year.

In 2023, the Buldak brand accounted for 84 percent of the company's global sales.

Nongshim also saw its ratio of international sales rise from 27 percent in 2018 to 31 percent in 2020 and 37 percent in 2022. Although the ratio had not yet surpassed the 40 percent mark, it came in at 38 percent in the third quarter of last year.

Nongshim's flagship Shin Ramyun reached a milestone in 2021 when its overseas sales surpassed domestic sales for the first time. In 2023, international sales accounted for 59 percent of Shin Ramyun's total revenue.

Both ramyeon makers are stoking their global ambitions, diversifying their lineups while expanding overseas production.

Samyang Foods is introducing MEP, a new soup-based spicy ramyeon, to global markets, as it branches out from its signature Buldak noodles. Samyang Foods launched MEP through a pop-up store in Thailand last December before showcasing it at a food exhibition in Japan in February.

Samyang is expanding its production capabilities on two fronts: a new plant in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, set to open this June, will raise annual ramyeon output from 1.8 billion units to 2.5 billion. Meanwhile, its first overseas facility in China is scheduled to begin operations in early 2027.

Meanwhile, Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun Toomba, a blend of spice and creaminess, is set to debut in Woolworths in Australia and 7-Eleven in Japan in March and April.

Nongshim is expanding its export capacity with a new factory in Noksan, Busan, which will double its production in the city to 1 billion units by 2026. This will bring the company's total capacity to approximately 6 billion units, including output from the US and China.