Everyone Wants a Spot Near Bungseok... Chicken Shops and Cafes Also Selling Bungeoppang

Popular Winter Snacks Amid Rapidly Cold Weather
Street Sales Down Due to Rising Raw Material Costs Like Flour
Mega Coffee Sells 200,000 'Snack Packages'
Goobne Also Launches Mini Bungeoppang Side Menu

Cafes and chicken franchises are filling the gap left by the decline in street vendor sales of fish-shaped bread (Bungeoppang), hotteok, and roasted sweet potatoes due to the burden of rising raw material costs.

Mega Coffee's 'Warm Snack Package'.
Photo by Mega Coffee

Ediya Coffee's Black Sesame Red Bean Fish-shaped Bread.
Photo by Ediya Coffee

According to industry sources on the 28th, Mega Coffee's winter season fish-shaped bread "Warm Snack Bundle," launched on the 26th of last month, sold 200,000 sets within a month of its release.

Mega Coffee's Warm Snack Bundle is a winter snack assortment menu consisting of red bean & cream puff fish-shaped bread, walnut pastry with red bean butter, and mini hotteok. Thanks to the explosive consumer response to fish-shaped bread and hotteok, the product has been selling out since the second week after its launch, with sales more than doubling last weekend compared to the previous week.

A Mega Coffee representative said, "We are currently increasing supply to stabilize the availability of the Warm Snack Bundle," adding, "Winter snacks like fish-shaped bread are great to enjoy with drinks on cold days, so sales are expected to continue rising steadily."

Ediya Coffee's two types of fish-shaped bread, launched on October 25th last year, have reached a cumulative sales volume of 980,000 units as of today. Ediya Coffee analyzes that the popularity stems from the convenience of enjoying warm winter snacks inside cozy stores without having to visit outdoor street vendors in the cold winter. Moreover, the growing consumer trend of pairing bakery items with coffee and other beverages is also interpreted as a factor contributing to the increase in fish-shaped bread sales.

In addition, unique fish-shaped bread products are catching attention. SPC Baskin-Robbins recently introduced an ice cream called "Doraemon's Red Bean Bungeoppang! Cream Puff!" based on the concept of fish-shaped bread and red beans. It features a combination of sweet red bean and cream puff ice cream, topped with red bean paste ribbons, whole red beans, and crispy butter cookies. The Ventii recently strengthened its winter snack lineup by newly launching two winter snacks, "Hohoho Bread" and "Hohoho Hotteok," alongside its previously released mini fish-shaped bread series.

Chicken companies have also jumped into baking fish-shaped bread. GN Food's Goobne launched two types of "Mini Bungeoppang" as side menus on the 22nd. This is a new attempt to allow customers to enjoy sweet desserts along with existing chicken and pizza menus all at once.

Jung Tae-yong, CEO of GN Food, said, "You can enjoy warm and convenient fish-shaped bread at stores nationwide without having to roam outdoors on cold days," adding, "We plan to further expand dessert side menus using oven technology in the future."

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