[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] The dining industry is strengthening its ‘single-serving menus’ to capture the hearts of solo diners. This trend has emerged as solo dining became a social trend due to social distancing measures caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In fact, Albamon, together with Job Korea, surveyed 2,928 men and women in their 20s about the ‘solo lifestyle trend,’ and 88.7% of the respondents in their 20s answered that they usually have things they do alone, such as solo dining or solo watching, supporting this trend.
According to the industry on the 18th, Pizza Hut is gaining great consumer response by offering not only the existing Pizza Hut menu but also single-serving pizzas available only at FCD stores at reasonable prices, through FCD stores that capture the feeling of ‘a delicious hideout in our neighborhood.’
Recently, Pizza Hut’s new products exclusive to FCD stores, such as ‘Gourmet Chicken Steak,’ ‘Pizza on the Chicken,’ ‘Boneless Chicken Karaage,’ and ‘Double Seafood Pizza,’ feature an enhanced chicken lineup so that customers visiting FCD stores can conveniently enjoy not only pizza but also chicken alone as a meal.
Pizza Hut is evaluated to be capturing the rapidly rising solo diners’ hearts by continuously launching new single-serving pizza menu items and recently strengthening its single-serving chicken menu.
Due to the COVID-19 situation, company cafeterias have closed, and a dining culture of ‘each eating separately’ has become popular for hygiene reasons, making lunch boxes that can be ordered for delivery and enjoyed solo relatively popular. The Korean lunch box brand ‘Bons Dosirak’ announced that it has steadily increased sales even during the COVID-19 period, achieving its highest monthly sales ever in March. Last July, it conducted a full menu renewal, upgrading to a more abundant Korean table setting to capture the hearts of solo diners.
Since social distancing was eased from level 2 to level 1 on the 12th, buffet restaurants in the Seoul metropolitan area have begun to reopen. However, due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, it is expected that the number of visitors to buffets will not increase rapidly in the short term, and new buffet types focusing on safety are emerging one after another.
Recently, CJ Foodville started test operations by introducing the ‘single-serving meal set’ concept at four ‘Season’s Table’ locations. This time, representative buffet dishes are newly offered as single-serving meal set ? la carte menus. Various dishes such as main courses, side dishes, and soups are served individually on a meal set.
The meal set arrangement is a traditional Korean daily dining style that values each person’s own bowl and spoon, using one’s own utensils. It is now not only suitable for the everyday ‘solo dining’ but also comfortable even when dining with others.
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