"Even Lunchboxes and Jajangmyeon Out of Reach"... Restaurant Prices Keep Rising

All 39 Restaurant Items Surveyed by the Government See Three Consecutive Months of Increases
Hangover Soup, Pho, Gimbap, and Fried Rice Up Over 4%
Ongoing War Raises Upward Pressure on Logistics and Labor Costs

The government has reported that restaurant prices have increased across all categories for three consecutive months, further burdening meal costs for ordinary citizens and office workers. In particular, price hikes have been especially pronounced in simple meal options such as lunchboxes and Jajangmyeon, accelerating the perceived increase in living costs. If the armed conflict between the United States and Iran becomes prolonged, additional price hikes are also feared due to the potential surge in international oil prices.

According to an analysis by the Ministry of Data and Statistics of the Consumer Price Index by category on March 24, all 39 restaurant items monitored by the government saw price increases for three straight months from December of last year to February of this year. Although the overall restaurant price inflation rate was 2.9% during this period, the increase was more pronounced in menu items that are popular among ordinary consumers. Relatively affordable options such as lunchboxes (5.7%), hangover soup (4.9%), Jajangmyeon (4.8%), and pho (4.7%) recorded increases of around 5%. Even menu items previously considered cost-effective, such as galbitang (4.3%), a type of rice soup, and kalguksu (3.7%), also saw increases across the board.

Yonhap News Agency

The situation is similar for snack foods and fast food. Items such as gimbap (4.3%), fried rice (4.0%), and hamburgers (4.1%)—popular among students and office workers—also saw consecutive price hikes. Since restaurant items have limited substitutes, price increases in individual items have led to a 'synchronization effect,' raising the prices of all choices simultaneously and increasing the overall burden of rising costs.

Furthermore, as the war between the United States and Iran, which began last month, shows signs of becoming prolonged, upward pressure on prices is increasing. The spike in international oil prices due to the conflict has destabilized the cost structure throughout the restaurant industry. The surge in oil prices is not limited to higher fuel costs; it has also driven up transportation costs for food ingredients, production costs for agricultural, livestock, and fishery products, as well as the prices of industrial goods such as packaging materials. As a result, the cost burden for restaurant owners is rising across the board. The immediate spike in heating fuel costs for facilities is likely to eventually transfer to higher agricultural product prices, with a time lag due to increased production costs for farmers.

The issue is that the restaurant industry tends to raise prices first on lower-priced menu items, where price resistance is lower and consumption frequency is higher. As these menu prices are adjusted first, ordinary citizens end up feeling the impact of rising prices more acutely. Ultimately, the route of cost transfer—from energy, to agricultural products, to processed foods, and then to the restaurant industry—is becoming a reality.

Last month, the rise in processed food prices was limited to 2.1%, the lowest in a year and two months, thanks to government policy measures. However, price increases in petroleum products resulting from the Middle East crisis were not reflected. If increases in oil prices are directly reflected in prices starting this month, the rise in restaurant prices could become even greater. Moreover, considering the compounded effect of rising logistics and labor costs, restaurant prices could rise more broadly and with a time lag.

Woohyung Hong, a professor of economics at Dongguk University, stated, "Oil is fundamentally one of the biggest drivers of price shifts; as energy prices rise, they sequentially trigger price increases in processed foods and restaurant costs that use energy."

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