E-mart, Dongwon, SPC Samlip eye 1 tril. won size salad market

Dongwon Home Food's Crispy Fresh salad cafe on Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of Dongwon F&B

By Kim Jae-heun

Local retail giant E-mart and food firms like Dongwon Food & Beverage and SPC Samlip are expected to expand their salad businesses, as what has been perceived as a diet food is now a main dish here.

E-mart, the country's largest discount store chain, decided to renew its salad restaurants as sales coming from the market soared by 20.4 percent last year and 38.9 percent as of March 21.

E-mart will sort 30 types of greens into five categories and label them by different colors for customers to note them easily when shopping. The products will be segmented according to the origin and type of ingredients as well as other related information.

Despite offline businesses in any field shrinking due to the COVID-19 pandemic, salad specialty stores are thriving ― especially those offering take-away service.

Dongwon Home Food, Dongwon F&B's retail unit that operates the specialty “salad cafe” Crispy Fresh, opened two more outlets this year to run four in total. Crispy Fresh's third store that opened in January in I'Park Mall in Yongsan, Seoul, has already received over 5,000 customer orders in just one month.

Dongwon Home Food is targeting areas where many office workers live alone. The retail firm's strategy is to open stores with more than 70 seats where individuals can come and eat salad alone comfortably during lunch and dinner time.

Last December, SPC Samlip opened the salad restaurant Pig In the Garden near Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. With a capacity of 70 seats, Pig In the Garden is not only receiving positive feedback for its franchise business but also its overnight greens delivery.

The brand is planning to add more salad items to its menu and beef up its marketing strategy. Sales generated by Pig In the Garden have been increasing by 20 percent to 30 percent every year to contribute to improving SPC Samlip's profit model as a general food company.

“The popularity of salad items here will continue to grow. Companies will attempt to strengthen their brand power by expanding offline as well as online by promoting delivery service,” an industry source said.

Meanwhile, according to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the size of the local market for fresh food, fruit and vegetables has grown by 20 percent every year since 2010 to reach 1 trillion won last year.