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Cafes no longer just for young people as 50-plus spending surges
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By Jun Ji-hye
Kim, a 58-year-old housewife living in Mapo District, Seoul, meets her friends at neighborhood cafes two to three times a week.
“In the past, we used to gather only at restaurants, but now it has become routine to spend a couple of hours chatting over a cup of coffee,” she said. “Although the prices are a bit higher, I visit cafes more often because of their atmosphere and comfort.”
She also enjoys what she calls “cafe tours” with her husband on weekends, visiting new spots together.
“With so many unique cafes around, it feels like taking a small trip,” she added.
The leading consumer group in Korea’s cafe market is shifting rapidly from people in their 20s and 30s to those in their 50s and 60s. Finda, a Seoul-based fintech company, analyzed nationwide cafe spending data for the first half of each year from 2019 to 2025 using its artificial intelligence-powered commercial district analysis platform.
The results show that consumers aged 50 and above now make up 31 percent of total cafe payments, up from 17.3 percent in the first half of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In contrast, the share of cafe payments by consumers in their 20s and 30s stands at 44.9 percent down from 61.6 percent before the pandemic.
In the first half of this year, consumers aged 50 and above spent about 1 trillion won ($721 million), marking a 215 percent increase from 345.8 billion won in the same period of 2019.
By comparison, spending by people in their 20s and 30s grew only about 28 percent over the same period, rising from 1.2 trillion won to 1.6 trillion won.
The gap in spending between the 20–30s and the 50-plus age group has narrowed considerably, falling from 887 billion won in the first half of 2019 to 491 billion won this year, a decrease of about 44.7 percent.
The total cafe transactions in the country amounted to about 3.5 trillion won in the first half of this year, down 5.86 percent from the same period a year earlier. Still, spending by consumers aged 50 and above rose 1.8 percent. In particular, spending among those in their 60s and older jumped 9.19 percent.
“Rising cafe spending among those aged 50 and above is breaking the stereotype that cafes are mainly for people in their 20s and 30s,” a Finda official said. “While younger consumers are gradually tightening their wallets due to declining disposable income, the 50s and 60s age group, with stronger purchasing power and a larger population share, is emerging as a key driver of consumption.”