Food firms enjoy higher ready-to-eat 'stamina' food sales as restaurant prices soar

Pulmuone's “stamina” food products / Courtesy of Pulmuone

By Kim Jae-heun

Food companies' sales of home meal replacement (HMR) products for “stamina” food are increasing as more people seek to eat samgyetang, or chicken soup with ginseng, and other high-protein dishes amid increasingly hot summer weather, according to industry officials, Tuesday. In addition, more consumers choose to eat meal-kit products at home rather than dining out, due to soaring restaurant bills.

Among others, samgyetang is a popular food that Koreans eat to beat the midsummer heat. Traditionally, people would go out to a restaurant for the delicacy, but inflated dining costs have pushed them to choose the more cost-effective option.

CJ CheilJedang, the country's largest food firm, saw its January-to-June sales of meal-kit product for samgyetang nearly double, year-on-year.

“More than 60 percent of the total sales for samgyetang is concentrated between June and August. We expect more samgyetang to be sold this year as unprecedented sweltering heat is forecast for this summer,” a CJ CheilJedang official said.

Another food firm Pulmuone also enjoyed a 43.5 percent year-on-year sales jump for its samgyetang, chueotang (loach soup) and galbitang (short rib soup) products in the first half of this year.

“In particular, samgyetang sales rose about 200 percent year-on-year in May, as the heat wave hit the country early this year. We plan to expand the supply of ready-to-eat stamina foods by about 300 percent in preparation for increased market demand,” a Pulmuone official said.

TMON, a local e-commerce firm, showed sales of raw chicken skyrocketing by 2,253 percent from June 28 to July 4, compared to the period of July 4 to 10 last year. People chose to cook samgyetang at home rather than enjoy it at a higher price in restaurants.