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/ Courtesy of CU |
Food makers are vying to attract consumers with new breakfast dishes.
According to industry sources, the number of people taking grab-and-go packaged breakfast has increased due to their hectic lifestyle as well as a growing proportion of single households.
The proportion has increased about 6 percentage points every year since 2000, reaching 23.9 percent last year, according to Statistics Korea.
"More people are paying attention to their health and have started to get into the habit of eating breakfast," a CU spokesman said. "Of our customers who eat breakfast, almost a third are in their 20s, indicating that students and office workers have breakfast at a nearby store on the way to school and work."
CU, the biggest convenience store chain, saw sales of breakfast dishes between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. rise 36 percent over the past two months from a year earlier.
These include sandwiches, dried seaweed rolls, milk and bakery products.
In 2012, sales in the morning time-slot made up 19.4 percent of total sales. Last year, they jumped 5.3 percent.
"The ready-meal food market is worth up to 1 trillion won. So we are focusing on developing high-quality products at reasonable prices," the spokesman said.
The company has launched an event "Have breakfast at CU," which offers up to a 37 percent discount on 25 products including muffins and coffee. Last month it introduced rice porridge in collaboration with Bonjuk, a leading rice porridge franchise.
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven, last month, rolled out customizable breakfast dishes, which include olives, ham, eggs and a muffin, bacon and cheese bagels and cranberry chicken salad pasta.
McDonald's, the world's largest fast food chain, is hosting a "National Breakfast Day" event today. Between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., its stores will give away 1,000 free McMuffin sandwiches to anyone who makes a purchase between those hours.
Lotteria, a local burger franchise, has also launched an event that gives away free Americano and soft corn ice cream for those purchasing breakfast or lunch sets.