Gangwon State and Wonju attract dairy company From with 10 billion won investment deal

【Financial News, Wonju—Kim Gi-seop】A dairy plant in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, will move its production facilities and employees wholesale to Wonju, investing 10 billion won.
According to Gangwon State and Wonju City on the 12th, the province and city signed a 10 billion won investment agreement with dairy manufacturer From at Wonju City Hall that day. Under the agreement, From will build a new 1,320-square-meter plant in the Munmak-Bangye General Industrial Complex in Wonju and relocate its Goyang plant and headquarters together around the end of 2028.
As part of the move, From will hire 21 new employees, and its existing employees will also relocate to Wonju. It is a case of a company from the Seoul metropolitan area moving its production facilities and workforce to a regional area all at once.
From, which launched last year, is growing rapidly on the strength of products such as its sterilized milk Got Milk and Greek yogurt Greek O. It supplies additive-free and probiotic-enriched products to major distributors, Naver and Coupang, among others. Its parent company, The First & Co., is a dairy importer and distributor founded in 2015. In 2023, it secured the exclusive domestic import rights for Polish dairy company Mlekovita and now accounts for 56% of South Korea’s sterilized milk import market. Its revenue last year was 34.5 billion won.
With its relocation to Wonju, From will expand its business beyond imports and distribution to include manufacturing. It plans to work with dairy farms and universities in the province to secure a stable supply of fresh raw milk and increase production of premium products with strong growth potential, such as fresh cheese and functional butter. The province’s dairy farmers are expected to gain another major sales channel, while universities will contribute to food-tech research through industry-academia-research collaboration.
Wonju City plans to introduce a new relocation settlement subsidy program to help employees of relocating companies settle in the area, and to provide tailored administrative support from groundbreaking through the start of plant operations. The city expects that improved access to the Seoul metropolitan area, through projects including the opening of the Buron interchange on the Yeongdong Expressway, construction of the Yeoju-Wonju Double-Track Railway, and the extension of the GTX D Line to Wonju, will also help companies strengthen their logistics competitiveness and secure workers.
“Dairy processing that turns raw milk into high-value-added products such as fresh cheese and functional butter is a key field in food tech,” said Gangwon State Vice Governor for Economy Won-chul Shin. “We will support the company from the first day of construction through the day it hires its employees and help it grow into a K-food company that leads the global market.”
“It is highly significant that the production base formerly in Goyang is relocating to Wonju along with its employees, and that Wonju is the first stage for expanding the competitiveness built up in imports and distribution into manufacturing,” said Wonju Mayor Gu Ja-yeol. “From relocation settlement subsidies through the start of plant operations, we will take care of what the company needs so that good jobs can take root in the region.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter