Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation and Lotte Mart Foster Youth Leading the Meal Kit Industry

Seoul City, Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation, and Lotte Mart Jointly Support Seoul Youth Meal Kit Startup Incubation and Business with Garak Market's Abundant Ingredients; Successfully Completed 2nd Term and Opened 3rd Term... 1st Term Top Graduates' Meal Kit Products Launched Nationwide at Lotte Mart, 2nd Term Products Also Planned for Release

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Garak Market, the largest wholesale market for agricultural and marine products in Korea, serving as a hub for produce from all over the country and a distribution network nationwide, is becoming a base camp for 'Seoul youth meal kit startups.'

The Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation (President Youngpyo Moon) announced that Garak Market is the largest wholesale market in Korea, trading over 370 items of agricultural and marine products nationwide. In 2021, the transaction amount reached approximately 5.2 trillion KRW, with a transaction volume of about 2.3 million tons.

Meal kits, a compound of Meal and Kit, also called 'cooking boxes,' are semi-prepared foods consisting of prepped ingredients and seasonings that allow for easy meal preparation with simple cooking.

This year, to support job creation and youth entrepreneurship in Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Corporation, and Lotte Mart are collaborating to promote the 'Seoul-style Youth Meal Kit Startup Support Project.'

Notably, this project involves famous chefs, representatives from food service companies (including HMR), advertising agency heads, brand experts, funding practitioners, and marketing specialists during the process to increase the participants' chances of startup success.

The Corporation utilizes its own training facilities and cooking studios to oversee eight weeks of theoretical and practical education and consulting related to meal kit startups, including prototype production and commercialization.

The main curriculum covers regulations related to meal kit startups, product planning, menu selection and production, distribution and marketing, food funding, prototype production, and commercialization.

This year, the program is divided into three cohorts. The first and second cohorts have seen over 40 young people complete the training by September. Notably, two outstanding graduates from the first cohort had their developed meal kit products launched nationwide at Lotte Mart on October 13, marking a valuable success experience for the youth participants.

Lotte Mart plans to support youth in realizing their dreams by conducting extensive promotional activities alongside the launch of meal kit products developed by the youth. For products developed by outstanding graduates of the second cohort, Lotte Mart is currently dedicating efforts to menu development for commercialization.

The third and final cohort of the Seoul Youth Meal Kit Startup Support program will begin on October 17, moving one step closer to becoming specialized meal kit entrepreneurs through eight weeks of theoretical and practical classes.

At the opening ceremony of the third cohort, President Youngpyo Moon stated, "It is very meaningful to jointly support job creation for Seoul youth with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Lotte Mart. We hope that meal kits reflecting the excellence of Garak Market’s agricultural and marine products will be developed, and we will strive to establish this as a business model where small merchants in the market and Seoul youth can succeed together."

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