Emart Launches Three Types of Peacock Meal Kits 'Gangwon-do's Table'

Integrated Meal Kit Branding with 'Peacock', Full-Scale Development of Differentiated Products Begins
'Gangwon-do's Table', Launch of Jjamppong Sundubu, Jang Kalguksu, and Cheonggukjang

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] Emart is launching representative dishes from all over Korea as Peacock meal kits. Meal kits refer to products sold as sets containing pre-prepared ingredients, seasonings, and recipes needed for cooking.

On the 9th, Emart released the first series of Peacock meal kits called 'Gangwon Province's Table' with three types. Gangwon Province's Table consists of Gangneung-style Jjamppong Sundubu, Wonju-style Jang Kalguksu, and Yeongwol-style Cheonggukjang. The prices are 9,980 won, 6,980 won, and 8,980 won respectively.

Gangwon Province's Table contains Korean recipes characteristic of the Gangwon region, and in the future, dishes reflecting the characteristics of Chungcheong, Gyeongsang, Jeolla, and Jeju regions will also be restructured into meal kits and introduced. 'Gangneung-style Jjamppong Sundubu' is a spicy soft tofu stew originating from the Sundubu alley in the Chodang area of Gangneung. By adding vegetables for jjamppong and Peacock Chodang Sundubu to the jjamppong broth and boiling, it can be cooked within 15 minutes. The main ingredient is Peacock Chodang Sundubu made from 100% domestic soybeans and using seawater from the East Sea as a natural coagulant.

'Wonju-style Jang Kalguksu' is a kalguksu (knife-cut noodle soup) originating from mountain villages in Gangwon Province where salt was hard to obtain, seasoned with a mixture of jang (fermented sauce). Unlike regular kalguksu, it features a thick and spicy flavor. Peacock’s 'Wonju-style Jang Kalguksu' uses fresh kalguksu noodles.

'Yeongwol-style Cheonggukjang' is a cheonggukjang dish developed in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, known for its soybean production and meju (fermented soybean blocks). By putting water, cheonggukjang sauce, stew vegetables, mushrooms, and tofu into a pot and boiling for 5 minutes, you can enjoy Yeongwol-style Cheonggukjang.

Meanwhile, although people in their 20s and 30s were known as the main customers of meal kits, customers in their 50s have also become major consumers in the meal kit market, attracted by the easy cooking methods and unique recipes. From January to June this year, the overall sales growth rate of Peacock meal kits was 24%, with the 50s age group showing the highest sales growth rate at 33.8%. This is analyzed to be due to the increased demand for 'easy cooking' as the number of people eating 'home-cooked meals' at home has increased following the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, for kimchi, a representative side dish made at home, the sales growth rate of packaged kimchi among customers in their 50s and 60s was 16%, the highest among all age groups. Sales of ready-to-eat foods such as gimbap, sandwiches, and fried foods among customers aged 60 and over also increased by 4.6%. Supported by these trends, Peacock Emart meal kit sales doubled from 16.5 billion won in 2019 compared to the previous year, and this year aims for annual sales of 25 billion won.