[Simple Meal] It Became 'Rest and Play' Beyond Just a Meal

Changing Perceptions of Home-Cooked Meals and Cooking... Expanding to Tables I Set
Shared Kitchen Sales Soar with WeCook and Others, Meal Kit Manufacturers Also Take Off with IPOs

Although the impact of COVID-19 continues, the home meal replacement (HMR) market is expected to keep growing. The biggest factors are changes in the concept of home-cooked meals and perceptions of cooking.

Changes in the Concept of Home-Cooked Meals

Due to COVID-19, the concept of home-cooked meals has expanded from simply eating at home to meals prepared directly by oneself. It has evolved from "meals cooked at home" to "the table I set."

According to CJ CheilJedang, the growth rate of HMR consumers has accelerated fivefold compared to the previous year. The concept has shifted from "mandatory meals" to "rest and play." Representative examples include "Netflix snacks" enjoyed while watching video content at home, "home baking" challenges with family, and "cooking challenges" shared through social networking service (SNS) channels.

A CJ CheilJedang official explained, "A new characteristic of consumers choosing convenience foods is that they use cooking as their own content," adding, "There is a trend of valuing experiences, such as exploring menus, cooking, and sharing reviews on social media." Accordingly, meal kits and restaurant meal replacements (RMR) that allow consumers to create their own "home restaurants" with the same taste as dining out are expected to grow rapidly this year. As the importance of health is emphasized, awareness that "the food I eat makes me" will increase, along with growing interest in ingredients and immunity.

Shared Kitchens and Meal Kit Companies Take Off

Some companies are particularly benefiting from the growth of HMR. These include shared kitchen and meal kit manufacturers. Shared kitchens refer to facilities where multiple operators can share "facilities, machines, and equipment necessary for food manufacturing, processing, and cooking." With the spread of non-face-to-face culture, distributors and popular restaurants are actively using shared kitchens to launch their own HMR products. There is also an increasing number of restaurant operators switching to delivery.

Wecook, the first shared kitchen company under the regulatory sandbox, saw its delivery-type shared kitchen (Wecook Delivery) sales increase by 1.5 times compared to a year earlier at the end of last year.

The utilization rate of manufacturing-type shared kitchens is also at 100%.

Delivery agency and logistics company Barogo opened the shared kitchen "Dosijubang" in October last year. Large foodservice companies are also joining the shared kitchen business one after another. CJ Foodville’s family restaurant Vips launched the delivery-only Vips Yum Delivery in August and opened a branch at the shared kitchen operator Kitchen Valley Seocho branch. The domestic shared kitchen market grew by more than 30% compared to the previous year, forming a market size estimated by the industry to be in the trillion-won range.

Meal kit specialist companies expanded their scale last year and are preparing for initial public offerings (IPO). Tasty Nine, established in 2015, has started preparing for listing on the KOSDAQ market.

They have currently released about 250 types of HMR menus and launched products in collaboration with famous chefs. Last year’s sales reached 24 billion KRW, more than triple the previous year’s 7.3 billion KRW. MyChef is also preparing for listing. MyChef aims to be the first meal kit company to go public by the end of next year through expanding meal kit market demand and establishing a smart factory. MyChef’s new smart factory is being built on a 1,000-pyeong site in the Seongnam Industrial Complex and is expected to be completed in December. The sales target for this year is 48 billion KRW.