A subsidiary of a South Korean maker of health and beauty products is bringing its innovative approach to dietary supplements to the U.S. It’s happening via a manufacturing facility starting up in Lakeport.
Esther Formula USA is working to bring to the U.S. Bio360’s thin, quickly dissolving nutritional supplement strips after enjoying success in Asia. The company has transformed a 67,243-square-foot former cannabis manufacturing plant near Lampson Field Airport into a cutting-edge production center specializing in thin, quickly dissolving strips.
Quality Team Manager Joseph Ahn described the oral dissolving film (ODF) technology to Lake County officials as similar to Listerine mouthwash strips that dissolved on the tongue, but designed for dietary supplements, offering “easier absorption” and reducing “choking hazards” for children and seniors.
YooJung Kim, chief financial officer, told the Lake County Planning Commission at a public hearing Thursday Oct. 23 that the project already has been extensive.
“We rebuilt (the inside) from the ground up, spending about a year and a half on construction to meet FDA, cGMP, state and county standards,” Kim said. The facility currently produces glutathione, CBD (a nonhallucinogenic compound in cannabis) and ceramide products, and the company has three more in research and development, including saffron, collagen and melatonin supplements.
The company’s market entry strategy has been aggressive, leveraging direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms, notably TikTok and Amazon. Ahn said sales have dramatically increased, from six to 14 cartons daily in June to as many as 200 a day within months, driven by influencer marketing and consumer interest.
The Planning Commission unanimously approved, with two members absent, the company’s major use permit and exemption from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. As commissioners were questioning why construction and installation of equipment had already happened to allow for quality-assurance testing to start earlier this year, Community Development Department Director Mireya Turner told the commission via text that she had used her discretionary authority to allow uses that didn’t have environmental impact.
As the facility is in an industrial zone near the airport and has existing infrastructure. Commissioner Maile Field commended the project as an excellent example of “redevelopment of existing structures” without additional land use.
The building at 4615 Work Right Circle was constructed in 1995 for Work Right Products. Launched in 1971, Work Right Products opened its first Lake County plant a year later, making glass shower enclosures. At one time it employed 105 workers before the company was sold in 1997 and later vacated the Lakeport building.
In 2019, Southern California-based cannabis products company Pro Farms applied to use the building and got the county green light in April 2021. But less than a year later amid financial turmoil in the legal cannabis industry, the company closed the plant, laying off 54 workers.
Esther Formula USA already employs 15, all in Lakeport. The approved expansion calls for up to 20 hires. The company told the commission it could potentially expand the workforce to 100 positions.
There are four production lines, including equipment custom-made in South Korea, but only one line is operational during the current startup phase. The use permit allows all four to become operational, Kim said.
The company isn’t currently exploring other U.S. production sites, but is considering whether it would go back for permits to build other facilities on the 4-acre property.
“We are deeply committed to Lake County, not just as a business location, but as a long-term community partner,” Kim told the commission.
She told the Journal that when U.S. sites were being explored in 2022, they scouted locations that were environmentally friendly and allowed CBD manufacturing. In addition to lowering product costs from tariffs and other import costs, having “Made in the USA” on the label is an important marketing factor, the company said.
“California met those regulatory requirements, and Lake County, near the Bay Area yet surrounded by pristine nature, proved to be the ideal location,” Kim wrote in an email. “In addition, the strong cooperation and administrative support from county officials played a decisive role in our decision to establish operations in Lakeport.”
With a doctorate in preventive medicine, Esther Lyuh started her namesake brand in South Korea in 2006. Sales started to take off in 2017, reaching 500 million boxes sold so far of the antioxidant glutathione, plus probiotics and collagen.
Sales for the Esther Formula company last year were 281 billion won (the equivalent of $190 million), according to a regulatory filing. Between 2019 and 2023, sales grew 83%, and the brand captured the top market share in South Korea’s nutrition products sector, according to South Korean newspaper Dong-a.
But the company has encountered challenges. Early last year, South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety gave the company a two-month business suspension for violating the country’s laws on product advertising claims about disease prevention or treatment.
Esther Formula is exploring other markets. Ahn told the commission the company is exploring pet applications, noting that orally dissolving film allows animals to consume supplements more easily than pills. The company already secured veterinary approval in South Korea.
Jeff Quackenbush joined North Bay Business Journal in May 1999. He covers primarily wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jeff@nbbj.news or 707-521-4256.