CU "Enjoy Tongin Market's 'Yeopjeon Dosirak' at Convenience Stores Nationwide"

Industry's First Collaboration with Traditional Local Markets

CU announced on the 11th that it will sequentially launch five products in collaboration with Tongin Market, a traditional local market, marking the first such partnership in the convenience store industry. Tongin Market, located in Jongno-gu, Seoul, is a traditional alley-style market with over 70 businesses including restaurants, side dish shops, and fruit and vegetable stores. The market is famous for its unique system where customers purchase yeopjeon (brass coins) and exchange them for goods.

The products CU is releasing this time are five types of convenient meals and refrigerated instant foods utilizing Tongin Market’s famous food items. The “Yeopjeon Dosirak (5,700 KRW)” is a lunchbox containing japchae, tteokgalbi, egg gimbap, and flat dumplings, allowing customers to enjoy all of Tongin Market’s popular foods in one product. This lunchbox concept, inspired by the experience of purchasing food with yeopjeon and eating it in a bowl, faithfully recreates the taste and atmosphere of Tongin Market in a convenient form.

The “Spicy Oil Tteokbokki (3,600 KRW)” comes with oil and red pepper powder separately packaged, allowing customers to cook it according to their preference. The “Cheese Spicy Grilled Chicken (5,000 KRW)” is a product that makes it easy to enjoy Tongin Market’s popular cheese buldak (spicy grilled chicken with cheese).

The “Tteokgalbi Triangle Gimbap (1,600 KRW)” is a triangular gimbap filled with tteokgalbi coated in galbi sauce inside white rice, and the “Nostalgic Hamburger (3,400 KRW)” contains a neobiani patty with cabbage mixed with ketchup and mayonnaise, faithfully recreating the taste commonly enjoyed at the market since long ago.

CU has also prepared a promotion to raise awareness of Tongin Market. Until the 15th of next month, customers who answer correctly to a Tongin Market-related quiz on the event page of CU’s own commerce app, Pocket CU, will be entered into a draw to receive a voucher for 20 yeopjeon worth about 10,000 KRW. The yeopjeon vouchers issued through this event can be exchanged for actual yeopjeon at Tongin Market and used immediately.

This partnership was initiated when BGF Retail, the operator of CU, proposed the collaboration to Tongin Market. CU worked closely with Tongin Market to develop products that allow customers who have difficulty accessing the market’s foods due to physical constraints to easily purchase popular market dishes at nearby convenience stores.

Lee Eun-gwan, head of the Strategic MD Team at BGF Retail, said, “With the launch of these collaborative products, we expect to promote Tongin Market through the country’s largest network and revitalize traditional markets by enabling the yeopjeon given in the promotion to be used again at Tongin Market. We will continue to strive to offer CU customers unique collaborative products at convenience stores.”

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