Fresh Easy Launches Next-Generation Meal Kit with Half the Cooking Time and Price

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] Meal kit specialist company Fresh Easy announced on the 1st that it will launch six types of the next-generation meal kit, ‘the EASY Meal Kit,’ which is more convenient and economical.

The six next-generation ‘the EASY Meal Kits’ maintain the taste and freshness of existing meal kits while reducing cooking time and price by more than half. The next-generation meal kits are long-term storage products, produced by placing ingredients such as vegetables and meat in containers ready for cooking, then undergoing ultra-low temperature rapid freezing and skin packaging processes. Using Fresh Easy’s latest quick freezer equipment that does not destroy the food’s cell membranes, the original taste and nutrients of the ingredients are preserved, maintaining fresh quality.

Additionally, the skin packaging method preserves the shape and color of the pre-processed ingredients, allowing customers to visually check freshness before purchase. Without additional cooking steps, anyone can easily complete cooking within 5 minutes by simply heating. The price is released at about half the level of existing meal kit products.

‘the EASY Meal Kit’ consists of six types: ‘Spicy Jeyuk Bokkeum,’ ‘Sweet and Salty Jeyuk Bokkeum,’ ‘Tokyo Gyudon,’ ‘Gwangyang-style Beef Bulgogi,’ ‘Chuncheon-style Seasoned Dakgalbi,’ and ‘Seoul-style Soy Sauce Dakgalbi.’ ‘Spicy Jeyuk Bokkeum’ features a combination of spicy stir-fried pork and pungent green onion salad, while ‘Sweet and Salty Jeyuk Bokkeum’ harmonizes the flavor of special soybean paste sauce with shiitake mushrooms, pumpkin, and various vegetables. ‘Tokyo Gyudon’ allows you to experience the sweet and moist texture of a specialty gyudon restaurant.

‘Gwangyang-style Beef Bulgogi’ is characterized by tender and savory beef with chewy enoki mushrooms, ‘Chuncheon-style Seasoned Dakgalbi’ offers the umami of chewy dakgalbi, and ‘Seoul-style Soy Sauce Dakgalbi’ features tender chicken with the sweet and savory flavor of soy garlic sauce. All six products use packaging designed considering the size and shape of refrigerators and have a long shelf life of 12 months, allowing them to be stored like books in the fridge and taken out anytime for consumption.

Fresh Easy is a rapidly growing food startup that expects to achieve sales of 170 billion KRW this year, up from 71.1 billion KRW last year, alongside the expansion of the convenience food market. Through the launch of the next-generation meal kit ‘the EASY Meal Kit,’ it plans to diversify its convenience food lineup and lay the foundation for becoming a comprehensive food company.

In addition to manufacturing and selling its own brand meal kits, Fresh Easy also produces OEM and ODM meal kit products for leading large corporations, operates food ingredient distribution businesses, and supplies meal kits for restaurant self-employed operators. It plans to continuously expand its scale by broadening its scope not only in B2C (business-to-consumer) but also in B2B (business-to-business) markets across various business areas related to food ingredients.

Choi Seung-woo, Executive Director (Head of Fresh Easy Retail Division), said, “Fresh Easy entered the convenience food market with the goal of ‘making Fresh Easy the first experience of meal kits’ and has now become a brand fully recognized by consumers for its taste.” He added, “Now, based on Fresh Easy’s manufacturing capabilities, we will launch various next-generation meal kit products to create a food culture that frees consumers from cooking.”