Growing 'Frozen Bread' Market... Lotte Mart Launches 3 Types of 'Bake-and-Eat Frozen Bread'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As the adoption of air fryers increases, the popularity of 'frozen bread' is growing.

On the 4th, related industries estimated the domestic frozen bread market size last year at 18.6 billion KRW. It showed a high growth rate of 68% in one year, and it is expected to expand to 25 billion KRW this year.

This is analyzed to be greatly influenced by the increase in the penetration rate of home air fryers on the growth of the frozen bread market. According to the market research firm Euromonitor, the domestic home penetration rate of air fryers reached 40% in 2018.

Previously, most frozen bread required thawing and baking in an oven, but recently, by baking in an air fryer for just 10 minutes without thawing, it is possible to easily enjoy warm bakery-quality bread as is.

Accordingly, Lotte Mart has launched three types of air fryer-exclusive products called ‘Bake-and-Eat Frozen Bread’ (Croissant, Cream Cheese, Apple Pie) developed in-house.

The croissant can be enjoyed after 2 minutes in the air fryer, and the cream cheese and apple pie after 10 minutes. The ‘Bake-and-Eat Croissant’ uses butter instead of margarine to enhance flavor and quality.

Earlier, last month, Lotte Mart collaborated with Panicsa, the number one producer of Portuguese egg tarts, to release traditional egg tarts that can be heated in a microwave or air fryer. This product surpassed monthly sales of 100 million KRW, confirming the growth potential of the frozen bread market.

Additionally, to develop home dessert products, they recruited MD (Merchandiser) Eunju Yoo this month, who completed pastry and baking courses at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France, renowned worldwide as a prestigious culinary school. MD Yoo is a baking expert with product development experience at a U.S. confectionery company after working at Bongmakse Department Store.

Eunju Yoo, Lotte Mart Processed Food MD, said, “Frozen bread is an emerging market worldwide,” and added, “We will do our best to develop products that are not inferior in quality to bakery bread by leveraging long shelf life and easy cooking methods using air fryers.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.