"Hotel Dining at Home" Hotel Industry Enters Ready-to-Eat Meal Market
by Jeon Jinyoung
Published 13 Apr.2022 14:19(KST)
Utilizing Existing Hotel Recipes and Chefs
Increased Demand for Premium Meal Kits Due to COVID-19
[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] In response to the increased demand for home-cooked meals due to COVID-19, the hotel industry is continuously launching home meal replacements (HMR) featuring their own restaurant know-how. According to the industry on the 13th, Paradise Hotel released representative restaurant menu items as convenient meals on the 5th. At Paradise City’s ‘La Scala,’ the executive head chef participated in developing ‘Bolognese Tagliatelle Pasta,’ ‘Truffle Tagliarin Pasta,’ and three types of wood-fired pizzas. At the Busan hotel’s Chinese restaurant ‘Nampung,’ the executive head chef also created dishes such as ‘Paljin Seafood Noodle Soup’ and ‘Juicy Fruit Sweet and Sour Pork.’
Meal kits from leading hotels known for their dining, such as Lotte, Shilla, and Chosun, are also gaining popularity. Lotte Hotel is selling a premium meal kit called ‘Lotte Hotel 1979.’ In particular, the herb lamb ribs have been widely sold through Lotte On and KakaoTalk Gift, achieving sales in the first month that exceeded the four-month sales target.
Chosun Hotel & Resort has been selling Chinese meal kits since 2018. The representative products are Uni Jjajang and Samseon Jjamppong. Since its launch in August 2020, this meal kit recorded cumulative sales of 600,000 units by December 2021. The HMR products within the retail team saw a 100% year-on-year sales growth last year.
Shilla Hotel also launched ‘Shilla Dining at Home’ in November last year, inspired by hotel fine dining at home, which is gaining popularity. Customers can enjoy dishes such as tenderloin steak, grilled short rib patties, and sablefish steak.
The hotel industry’s pursuit of the meal kit market is expected to continue. An industry insider said, “Since existing chefs’ recipes are available, there is little difficulty in product development, and with the increased demand for home-cooked meals due to COVID-19, competition is expected to continue for the time being.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.