How Parasite Contributed To A Boom In Potato Chip Sales

The 87-year-old Spanish potato chip purveyor Cesar Bonilla likely could not have anticipated that his company, Bonilla a la Vista, would require additional staff to keep up with a spike in demand after nearly a century in business. But now, thanks to everyone's favorite South Korean export, the chips are more popular than ever, and Bonilla is overwhelmed (in both senses of the word).

Reuters reports that Bonilla a la Vista has seen sales surge by 150% after the release of the movie Parasite, which features the Kim family enjoying the Spanish chips as part of their living room feast. The product isn't even featured in the film in any prominent way like "ram-don" is—the canister is just seen amidst a pile of other snack foods—but such is the pop cultural sway of this film at the heart of the zeitgeist.

Bonilla a la Vista first arrived in South Korea in 2016, and in the ensuing years it's become a hugely popular product there; Parasite surely featured the canister as a nod to that cache. To handle the increased sales, Bonilla has hired four more staffers to help fill orders and run the growing business. "I'd say to the Parasite director, 'A thousand thank yous,'" Bonilla said in an interview with Reuters. "I have tears in my eyes when I think about it."