Main Role on the Dining Table... Salad Sales Surge

COVID-19 4th Resurgence, July Salad Sales Up 67%
Premium Ingredients and Delivery Menus Target Salad Market

A customer is purchasing a salad at the mart.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] With the well-being trend, salads, once considered diet food, are becoming a part of everyday meals.

According to Shinsegae Food on the 19th, salad sales at E-Mart from January to June this year increased by 55% compared to the same period last year. During the same period, salad sales on SSG.com and E-Mart24 also rose by 32% and 46%, respectively. In particular, with the recent fourth wave of COVID-19 resurgence, the number of office workers enjoying solo meals either while working from home or at the office has increased, leading to a 67% increase in Shinsegae Food’s salad sales from July 1 to 15 compared to the same period last year.

Shinsegae Food analyzed that this sales growth is due to increased consumer interest in salads made of fresh vegetables and fruits as health concerns have risen amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Especially, since making salads at home requires purchasing various types of vegetables and toppings, washing and preparing them, which is cumbersome, and it is difficult to maintain freshness when storing leftover ingredients, more consumers are seeking convenient ready-to-eat salads, which is one of the main reasons for the increase.

As the popularity of salads rises, companies are actively targeting consumers by using premium ingredients or offering delivery-exclusive menus.

Shinsegae Food enhanced the salads sold at E-Mart by adding nutritious premium ingredients such as lentils, quinoa, roasted nuts, black olives, and beets, and increased the topping weight by more than 40g compared to before. They newly launched five improved types: ‘Balsamic Pumpkin Ricotta Salad,’ ‘Basil Grilled Shrimp Salad,’ ‘Caesar Chicken Salad,’ ‘Oriental Chicken Breast Quinoa Salad,’ and ‘Oriental Mushroom Steak Salad.’ In addition to vegetable salads, they introduced a ‘Salad Pack’ that contains one scoop each of six types of salads including sweet potato, pumpkin, tuna, salsa fusilli, corn, and crab sticks, allowing customers to enjoy a variety of salads at once.

Along with this, in response to office workers feeling burdened by dining out amid the recent COVID-19 resurgence and preferring odorless, convenient salads to enjoy at the office, the delivery-only store ‘Chef To Go’ operating in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, launched five delivery-exclusive salads: ‘Plain Salad,’ ‘Grilled Shrimp Salad,’ ‘Chicken Breast Salad,’ ‘Spicy Pork Bowl,’ and ‘Chicken Breast Bowl,’ which are now available through delivery apps such as Baedal Minjok, Yogiyo, and Dalicious.

SPC Group’s bakery brand Paris Baguette launched a category brand called ‘Delicious’ last month, covering deli products such as sandwiches and salads. ‘Delicious’ aims to provide a hearty meal optimized by professional researchers balancing taste and nutrition, using carefully selected fresh ingredients. They also expanded the stores carrying ‘Pick My Balance,’ a customizable salad product previously available only in some stores. ‘Pick My Balance’ allows consumers to create their preferred combinations of vegetables, chicken breast, fruits, and dressings.

The salad market is growing. According to a survey by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT), the market size of fresh and convenience fruits and vegetables, which can gauge the salad market scale, exceeded 1 trillion won last year. The market size has shown steady growth, with 889.4 billion won in 2018 and 936.9 billion won in 2019. The food industry expects the salad market to grow by more than 10% this year. In fact, aT’s survey results showed that 21.3% of respondents increased their salad purchases after COVID-19.

A Shinsegae Food official said, “As interest in health increases, the customer base is expanding beyond the main female salad buyers to include young men purchasing salads as meals before and after exercise, as well as office workers seeking a simple meal.”

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