"Sold Out in an Instant Even After Adding to Cart"…A 'Meal Kit' Crisis Erupts Due to Soaring Gold and Vegetable Prices and COVID-19

Increased Demand for Home-Cooked Meals but Grocery Prices Rise
Milkit Popularity Surges, Leading to Early Sell-Outs
Milkit Companies Focus on Stabilizing Ingredient Supply

[Asia Economy Reporters Choi Saeng-hye, Lee Seung-jin] Kim Ye-eun (35), a working professional and homemaker, has recently been engaged in fierce online shopping competitions every afternoon. Due to the widespread outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), her entire family spends their days at home, leading to an increased purchase of meal kits to prepare every meal. The meal kit products she usually buys often sell out by the afternoon, making it difficult to purchase them. The fluctuating food prices caused by heavy rain and heatwaves have made cooking from scratch more burdensome than buying meal kits.

Surge in Meal Kit Orders Due to COVID-19 and Heatwaves= According to the distribution industry on the 26th, sales of meal kits from dawn delivery services have surged. With the spread of COVID-19, the increase in remote work and online classes has significantly boosted demand for home-cooked meals. Meanwhile, the longest rainy season on record and heatwaves have caused vegetable prices and other food costs to fluctuate wildly, driving consumers to purchase meal kits with stable prices. Some online malls have seen a rush of dawn delivery orders, leading to early afternoon sell-outs of meal kits.

According to 'Fresh Easy,' the number one meal kit company, sales of meal kits from the 1st to the 20th of this month increased by more than 21% compared to the same period last month. Popular items include steak sets, dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken) sets, and mille-feuille nabe (a hot pot dish made primarily with beef and napa cabbage). Major online grocery malls such as SSG.com and Market Kurly have also seen a sharp increase in orders recently. The surge in COVID-19 cases has increased demand for online shopping instead of offline stores, and a trend of refraining from dining out has formed.

Over the past weekend (21st?23rd), SSG.com’s sales increased by 12.8% compared to the same period last month. During the same period, Market Kurly and Oasis saw sales rise by 33% and 30%, respectively. Top-selling items with high sales growth included staple ingredients such as rice, fruit, bottled water, and vegetables. Market Kurly’s sales of major vegetables increased by an average of over 70%. Meal kit sales rose by 19% compared to the same period last month. Salad kits showed the highest growth rate of 115%, reflecting reduced physical activity, and pizza kits, which families with children staying at home could make together, saw a 92% increase in sales.

Oasis Market’s meal kit sales grew by more than 20% over the past weekend. The Korean Yakult online mall 'Hi Fresh' also showed an increasing trend in meal kit sales. Popular items include budae jjigae (army stew), mille-feuille nabe, and gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp). CJ CheilJedang’s meal kit brand 'Cookit' is also popular, with some meal kit menus such as jjambbong (spicy seafood noodle soup) selling out.

Rising Vegetable Prices Make Meal Kits More Affordable= Some meal kit products have a fixed daily supply, causing early sell-outs in the afternoon. Recently, as vegetable prices have risen, it has become more economical for one- or two-person households to buy meal kits rather than purchasing small quantities of various ingredients to cook.

For example, the price of mille-feuille nabe sold by meal kit companies is in the mid-to-high 10,000 KRW range. However, if purchasing ingredients individually from fresh food specialty malls, one would have to pay about 37,000 KRW for 200g of pork neck (14,000 KRW), 200g of napa cabbage (2,200 KRW), 100g of bean sprouts (1,700 KRW), perilla leaves (1,200 KRW), white wood ear mushrooms (7,700 KRW), shiitake mushrooms (3,200 KRW), king oyster mushrooms (1,100 KRW), 60g of potato sujebi (hand-torn noodle soup) (3,000 KRW), and kelp. Moreover, special vegetables like bok choy are difficult to purchase due to scarcity caused by heavy rain. A Fresh Easy representative explained, "Currently, there are cases where meal kits are cheaper than buying ingredients individually, so from the consumer’s perspective, there is no reason to refuse meal kits that offer both convenience and economic benefits."

As demand concentrates on online grocery malls, 'dawn delivery,' which delivers orders placed the previous day by the next morning, is also closing early. On the 24th, SSG.com’s dawn delivery closed orders 3 to 4 hours earlier than the midnight cutoff time. Market Kurly, on the 22nd, ran out of stock for many products by 7 p.m. and posted a notice asking customers to revisit after 11 p.m.

Meal kit companies plan to focus on stabilizing the supply of ingredients such as vegetables as demand surges. A Fresh Easy representative said, "We are securing supply through diversified purchasing channels from agricultural production areas and advance volume contracts, so there are currently no issues with supply and production. To ensure supply stability amid increasing demand, we have established a specialized agricultural product purchasing organization to respond to rapidly changing market conditions."

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