Tanghulu Losing Out to Bungeoppang? More Closures in Summer Than Winter [News SeolCham]

④Tanghulu Craze? Closure? Fact Check
Last Year Dessert Specialty Stores Ranked 1st in Sales Growth Rate
Only 4.8% Closure Compared to New Openings
Winter Popularity Decline? Over Half Close in Summer and Fall

Editor's Note'Seolcham' is a newly coined term meaning to refer to detailed explanations. In [News Seolcham], we aim to pinpoint and explain in more detail the parts of the news that require fact-checking or further explanation.

Tanghulu, which has emerged as a "national snack," is a Chinese dessert made by coating fruit skewers such as strawberries and grapes with sugar syrup and letting it harden. It is enjoying tremendous popularity among people in their teens and twenties. The number of tanghulu specialty stores has increased 14-fold in one year. Card sales, excluding cash, surged by 17%. At the same time, the number of tanghulu stores closing down is also rapidly increasing. What is the true face of tanghulu?

On April 9 last year, tanghulu for sale was displayed at a booth at the '2023 Seoul Dessert Fair' held at the aT Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

◆ A wave of closures? 'False'... New openings must also be considered

The tanghulu craze can be confirmed by the increase in card sales. According to an analysis by KB Kookmin Card of credit and debit card sales and the proportion of new franchise stores, tanghulu ranked first in sales growth among dessert specialty stores last year. Tanghulu's card sales surged by 1678% compared to the previous year, and newly opened stores increased by 1339%. By age group, the sales proportion was 9% for teenagers and 37% for people in their twenties, accounting for half of the total sales.

However, the number of closures is also soaring simultaneously. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's local administrative licensing data, 54 tanghulu stores classified as snack bars closed last year. The number of closures was in single digits in previous years?4 in 2019, 9 in 2020, 1 in 2021, and 6 in 2022?but suddenly increased about ninefold last year. Some view this as a sign that the industry, which had enjoyed tremendous popularity, is now facing a downturn.

However, this interpretation only looks at the surface increase in closures and does not consider the fact that the number of newly opened tanghulu stores has also increased due to its popularity. When comparing the closure rate to the number of new tanghulu store licenses last year, it was only 4.8%, less than half of the 10.3% in 2022.

The rumor that tanghulu stores are closing because they are losing out to popular winter snacks like bungeoppang is also false. Among the 54 stores that reported closures, more than half (32) closed during summer to early autumn (June to September). Only five stores closed from November last year to the 21st of this month, when temperatures were low. There were zero tanghulu store closures during the previous winter season (November 2022 to February 2023).

◆ Is tanghulu the sole 'diabetes culprit?' → 'False'... Overall sugar management is necessary

Tanghulu was also a major issue at last year's National Assembly audit. The CEO of a tanghulu franchise was summoned as a witness to the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee regarding concerns about excessive sugar consumption. Since tanghulu is a snack made by coating sugar syrup on fruit high in sugar content, each skewer contains an average of 10 to 25 grams of sugar. As it gained popularity among children and adolescents, it was pointed out as a major health risk. Consuming just 1 to 2 skewers of tanghulu along with three meals a day could easily exceed the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended daily sugar intake of 50 grams.

[Image source=Pixabay]

However, tanghulu is not the only dessert responsible for diabetes. Donuts, macarons, and others contain similar amounts of sugar. For example, Dunkin's "Strawberry Field" donut contains 10 grams of sugar per piece. Other donuts like Cocoa Honey Dip have 13 grams, Very Berry Twisty 9 grams, and Cappuccino Twisty 9 grams of sugar. Krispy Kreme's Original Glazed and Lotus Biscoff donuts contain 12 grams and 14 grams of sugar respectively.

Macarons, which have been a steady seller since the mid-2010s, also contain similar sugar levels. Although the amount of sugar varies depending on the manufacturing method and ingredients, they generally contain about 8 to 10 grams of sugar. SPC Paris Baguette's blueberry macaron contains 10 grams, and the chocolate macaron contains 8 grams of sugar. Tous Les Jours' blueberry and chocolate macarons contain 9 grams and 6 grams of sugar respectively.

One should also be cautious about sweet beverages after meals. According to a 2022 survey by the Korea Consumer Agency of 29 coffee and beverage franchises, the average sugar content per drink was 37 grams, roughly equivalent to eating three skewers of tanghulu. Especially, smoothies and ade drinks contain an average of 65 grams of sugar per serving, which far exceeds the daily recommended sugar intake with just one drink.

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