Cold Wave Fully Begins... Hot Soup Dishes Selling Well

Domestic Soup Market Reaches Approximately 564 Billion KRW Last Year
Increased Consumption of Ready-to-Eat Soups... Active New Product Launches

Itaewon Budae Gukbap by School Food. Photo by School Food

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] As the strongest cold wave of this winter begins, hot soup dishes are capturing the taste buds of consumers.

According to the dining industry on the 15th, the sales of hot soup dishes in the first week of this month at the snack franchise School Food increased across the board compared to the third week of last month, which was warmer than usual. Specific sales increases include Itaewon Budae Gukbap by 18%, Beef Rice Noodles by 15%, Seafood Vegetable Tempura Udon by 14%, and Shinbi Bean Sprout Gukbap by 10%.

Lee Yeon FNC, which operates Hanchon Seolleongtang, reported that sales of ready-to-eat soup dishes have increased by about 20% from last summer season to the present since this fall. In particular, eight types of room-temperature soup products, including ‘Hanwoo Sagol Gomtang’, ‘Seolleongtangjip Seolleongtang’, and ‘Beef Market Hangover Soup’, which are representative ready-to-eat products made based on Hanchon Seolleongtang’s expertise, showed high sales.

An industry official said, "As the weather suddenly gets colder, warm soup menus are selling well," adding, "Recently, with an increase in young customers who want convenient meals indoors and family consumers, the release of ready-to-eat soup products is becoming more active."

Meanwhile, the domestic soup dish market in the room-temperature, frozen, and refrigerated categories is estimated to be about 564 billion KRW last year (including online and offline).

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