Relieving COVID-19 Stress with a 'Spicy Kick'... Convenience Store Sales Surge

Spicy Flavor Products Increase 23.7% Month-on-Month??? Relieving COVID-19 Blues with Spicy Food
Strong Sales Across Various Categories Including Buldak Bokkeum Myeon and Spicy Bulgogi Lunchboxes
CU Relaunches Giant Series 3 Items (Tteokbokki, Rabokki, Eomuk Tteokbokki)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] The number of people relieving stress from the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) with spicy food is increasing.

BGF Retail's convenience store CU analyzed food sales during the recent two weeks (August 16?31), when COVID-19 cases began to surge again, and found that sales of spicy products increased by 23.7% compared to the same period last month. As social distancing due to COVID-19 continues, CU identified that people exhausted by so-called "corona blues," experiencing depression and lethargy, are relieving stress with spicy food.

This consumption trend was most prominent in ramen. Sales of spicy ramen such as Buldak Bokkeum Myun and HEYROO Cheongyang Chili Ramen jumped 20.8% compared to the previous month. Considering that overall ramen sales increased by 11.2% during the same period, the preference for spicy flavors was significantly higher.

In lunch boxes, Baek Jong-won's Spicy Bulgogi Lunch Box ranked first in sales among more than 20 types of CU lunch boxes, surpassing chicken, pork cutlet, tteokgalbi, and beef bulgogi lunch boxes. It recorded sales 17.9% higher than the second-best-selling product, the Grilled Meat Champion Lunch Box.

Among refrigerated side dishes popular with home drinkers recently, the share of spicy products such as Spicy Fried Chicken, Spicy Stir-fried Gopchang, Fiery Buldak Feet, and Buldak Gopchang Jjageuli noticeably increased from 33.7% to 42.2%.

In line with this trend, CU will renew and launch the original spicy snack series representing convenience stores, the "Giant Series," on the 3rd of this month. The newly introduced 'New Giant Tteokbokki' maintains the spiciness of the existing product but features a sauce with enhanced umami flavor and uses rice cakes to provide a chewy texture. The price is 2,200 won.

Also introduced are the 'New Giant Rabokki (2,900 won),' which adds black bean sauce flavor to the spicy sauce for a sweet and spicy taste, and the 'New Giant Fish Cake Tteokbokki (3,000 won),' which includes Samjin Fish Cake's triangular fish cakes and uses curry powder for a unique spicy flavor. Since its first launch in 2014, Giant Tteokbokki has ranked first in CU's refrigerated convenience food sales for six consecutive years.

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