The source of the company's name is neither Korean nor Japanese, or even Chinese, but German.

Shin Kyuk-ho was impressed with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) and named his newly founded company Lotte after the character Charlotte in the novel.

[3][4] ("Charlotte" is also the name of premium auditoriums in movie theatres run by Lotte.

It is controlled by the founder Shin Kyuk-Ho's extended family.

Lotte Group's major businesses are food, retail, chemical, construction, manufacturing, tourism, service, finance, etc.