Pulmuone rolls out sliced kimchi packs for small households

Pulmuone, a fresh food company, said Thursday it has launched two portion packs of Pulmuone Sliced Kimchi for small households, reflecting the increasing number of single and two-person households. The pack comes in two sizes -- 400 and 600 grams. While kimchi products are usually composed of 3 to 10 kilogram packs, Pulmuone said its small portion kimchi will fit the needs of small households. According to Statistics Korea, single and two-person households accounted for 57 percent of the pop

April 2, 2020

High-end restaurants opt for drive-thru service

With social distancing becoming daily routine for people here in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, fancy restaurants are turning to drive-thru services, according to industry sources Tuesday. Samwon Garden, a decades-old local Korean food restaurant established in 1976, said it started a “driving pickup” service from Friday, in which customers can pick up meals ordered in advance from their cars. The restaurant offers discounts for all customers, selling short ribs menu items at

April 1, 2020

[Photo News] Ediya opens Dream Factory

Ediya Coffee Chairman Moon Chang-ki (far right) turns on a roasting machine at Ediya Dream Factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday. The factory that spans 12,982 square meters, with 40 billion won investment, is equipped with new coffee roasting technologies.  Ediya, which has 3,000 franchisees nationwide, said with the opening of the roasting factory and a logistics facility, it has automated all four processes of selecting, roasting and packaging coffee products. (herim@he

April 1, 2020

Binggrae takes over Haitai Icecream

Korean food and beverage giant Binggrae said Wednesday it has acquired Haitai Icecream, a subsidiary of Haitai Confectionery & Food, for 140 billion won ($115 million). The exact date of the acquisition will be fixed after details are sorted out. Haitai Confectionery & Food began its ice cream business in 1970 by rolling out Bravo Cone. In January, it was spun off as a separate entity. Following the acquisition, Binggrae is likely to become No. 1 in the confectionery industry, with

April 1, 2020

Coupang spins off fintech business

South Korea’s leading e-commerece platform Coupang announced Tuesday that it has decided to spin off its fintech business currently operating its payment service. It has established a fintech subsidiary named Coupang Pay on Wednesday, and will start offering payment services within the first half of this year. The move is aimed to offer the services to a broader base of customers with renewed focus on enhancing user experience, the company said. The spinoff is led by Kyung In-tae, Cou

April 1, 2020

Woowa Brothers to sue scammers posting fake food reviews

Woowa Brothers, operator of the country’s leading food delivery app Baedal Minjok, said Monday it will file police complaints against businesses that posted fake food reviews on its app, after being paid. According to the company, the firms received about 5,000 won ($4) to 10,000 won for posting positive reviews registered on Baedal Minjok. For instance, they would be paid about 23,000 won to order one fried chicken that cost 18,000 won on the app, write a positive review, and gain 5,000

March 30, 2020

Retail sales up 9.1% in Feb. amid virus pandemic

Retail sales in South Korea rose 9.1 percent in February from a year earlier as more people purchased daily necessities through online platforms amid the spread of the new coronavirus here, data showed Monday. The combined sales of 26 major offline and online retailers reached 10.6 trillion won ($8.68 billion) last month, compared with 9.71 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The sharp increase came as online stores enjoyed

March 30, 2020

SPC Samlip appoints Hwang Jong-hyeon as new CEO

SPC Samlip, a bakery and restaurant franchise giant, said Friday it has appointed Hwang Jong-hyeon as its new chief executive. SPC Group, the holding company, said it has also appointed Ahn Ji-yong as the new CEO to lead its subsidiary SPC GFS. Hwang served as the CEO of Samjin Eomuk, a fish cake maker, and previously worked for Dongwon F&B, the food division for Dongwon Group, for 30 years to lead numerous mergers and acquisitions and contributed to the growth of Dongwon’s dairy

March 27, 2020

Lotte Shopping stresses profitability as utmost priority

Lotte Shopping said Friday it plans to undergo major restructuring, including shutting down money-losing stores and sluggish businesses, while taking measures to strengthen its e-commerce platform. Lotte Shopping operates the retail unit of Lotte Group, including the department store and mart. During its general shareholders meeting held in Seoul, Lotte Shopping CEO Kang Hee-tae announced improving profitability as the company’s utmost priority this year. “While we expect a dif

March 27, 2020

Non face-to-face food ordering services popular amid social distancing trend

Baemin Order, an ordering and payment service for restaurants, accumulated over 2 million orders in five months since its launch in November, its operator Baedal Minjok said Friday. Baemin Order, which can be accessed through the Baedal Minjok delivery app, is a service in which users can order and pay for food in advance of a visit to a restaurant. This service allows users to either pick up the food or dine in at the restaurant without making contact with a server, Baedal Minjok explained.

March 27, 2020

Duty-free sales halve in Feb. on COVID-19

Sales at South Korean duty-free stores nearly halved in February from a month earlier, hit hard by the spread of the new coronavirus, industry data showed Friday. Combined sales of local duty-free shops came to 1.1 trillion won ($910 million) last month, down 45.5 percent from January, according to the data from the Korea Duty Free Shops Association. The number of visitors plunged 54 percent on-month to 1.75 million in February, with foreigners accounting for 40 percent of the total. Sales of

March 27, 2020

Koreans choose to drink at home during virus quarantine

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed daily life for many, driving society to endorse “social distancing” and putting people to work remotely, spending most of their time at home. For many in Korea, well known for its binge-drinking and hoesik (nighttime drinking gatherings) culture, things appear to have changed significantly, as the latest data shows more opting to drink at home. “(Because of COVID-19) I had many of my hangout plans canceled, and it was disappointing at firs

March 26, 2020

Coupang to install ‘360-degree monitoring system’ in delivery cars

E-commerce giant Coupang said Wednesday it will install Automotive Around View Monitoring system in all its vehicles to aid its delivery staff. The monitoring system allows the driver to get a 360-degree exterior view on the screen, using four cameras mounted underneath the outside mirrors. According to the company, it will complete installing the system in all vehicles before July. It is the first company in the logistics industry to introduce the technology for delivery workers, the compan

March 25, 2020

Pulmuone sells $30m of fresh noodles in US in 2019

Pulmuone said Tuesday that its annual sales of Asian noodles in the US reached $30 million in 2019, a sixfold increase in the last four years. The Korean fresh food company, which leads the US tofu market, entered the Asian noodle market in the US in 2015 with premium fresh noodle products, posting annual sales of $5 million in the first year. Led by the solid performance of Black Bean Sauce Noodles and Teriyaki Stir-fry Udon distributed in Costco stores, sales continued to rise, and in 2019

March 24, 2020

McDonald’s Korea donates burgers, pies to support Guro

McDonald’s Korea said Monday it will provide free burgers and pies to volunteers and those vulnerable in Seoul’s Guro-gu, where a cluster infection of COVID-19 recently emerged from a call center. According to the burger chain, it will deliver 2,000 McChicken sandwiches and 2,000 pie products, including corn and apple pies, via the Community Chest of Korea to Guro. The food will be offered to the district disinfection volunteers and 44 community centers, including dwelling faciliti

March 23, 2020

Shinsegae Department Store introduces 3 types of shopping carts

Shinsegae Department Store said Monday it is introducing three types of shopping carts from Tuesday. According to the retail giant, the three carts each have different features. One is designed for safekeeping bags. Another has a baby seat. The last type caters to small purchases. The cart with a space to store purses is covered with water-proof fabric to prevent shoppers’ designer bags from getting scratched, Shinsegae said. Shinsegae explained that customers had often held onto th

March 23, 2020

Cleaning appliance sales increase as hygiene concerns rise

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak across South Korea, more people appear to be buying cleaning appliances as hygiene concerns rise, according to the retail industry Sunday. According to figures released by the country’s largest retail chain E-mart, dryers and garment care appliances saw sales go up by 26.6 percent and 38.5 percent, respectively, from Jan. 20 to Thursday, compared to the year earlier. Jan. 20 is the day the first COVID-19 patient was confirmed in Korea. Fabric care

March 22, 2020

Starbucks Korea extends coffee donation to hotline workers until end-March

Starbucks Korea said Monday it will expand its free coffee delivery it started in mid-February for workers at the disease control center hotline 1339 to the end of this month. According to the coffee chain, it has been providing 500 cups of coffee every day since Feb. 17 to three 1339 call centers, two operated by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul and Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, and one operated in cooperation by National Health Insurance Service. O

March 16, 2020

[Feature] Ditching middlemen: brands strive to lure consumers directly

More individual brands have been turning to a direct-to-consumer strategy in South Korea, investing in their own online retail outlets and mobile applications to reduce dependence on giant middlemen, or e-commerce platforms. As the preference for online shopping continues to grow -- particularly amid the coronavirus-enforced self-isolation recently -- competition among online retailers has been intensifying to the point that the line separating different industries is slowly blurring.　 Indust

March 15, 2020

Online sales for high-end retailers jump amid virus outbreak

As retail businesses are seeing a boost in their sales online amid the COVID-19 outbreak, high-end department stores and outlets have also hopped on the bandwagon, according to the industry on Wednesday. WeMakePrice, a South Korean e-commerce platform operator, said the combined sales of department stores and outlets it hosts spiked in the period from Feb. 1 to 28 by 316 percent from a year earlier. While department stores and premium outlets are widely seen to be more dependent on physical

March 11, 2020