Market Kurly Selects 'Seoul Restaurants, Famous Chefs, Korean Cuisine' as 3 Main RMR Keywords

Market Kurly, Samiheon Galbitang.

Market Kurly RMR Product Sales Increase by an Average of 215% Annually
Seoul Area Restaurants Account for 82% of Total Sales
Famous Chef Collaboration Menu Sales Grow 54-Fold in 4 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] Market Kurly announced on the 30th that, after analyzing restaurant ready-meal (RMR) data sold on Market Kurly from January 2017 to August 2021 in collaboration with Seoul National University’s Food Business team, the keywords 'Seoul Restaurants,' 'Famous Chefs,' and 'Korean Cuisine' were selected as RMR trend keywords.

Sales of RMR products sold on Market Kurly increased by an average of 215% annually from 2017. Last year’s sales were 46 times larger compared to 2017, showing significant growth. The average monthly sales in 2021 were approximately 15 billion KRW, which translates to an annual sales figure of 180 billion KRW. This is comparable to the total size of the domestic meal kit market last year.

Among total RMR sales, products from restaurants in the 'Seoul' area accounted for 82%. Various popular Seoul restaurants such as Gwanghwamun (Mijin), Yeonhui-dong (Mokran), Cheongdam-dong (Mingles, Choi Dot), Seongsu-dong (Packpi), and Itaewon (Locos BBQ) attracted strong popularity. Yeonhui-dong’s Mokran first joined Market Kurly in November last year and achieved sales exceeding 10 billion KRW within a year. Gwanghwamun Mijin’s buckwheat noodles also sold over one million servings in just one year and six months. Although restaurants outside Seoul had a lower sales share compared to Seoul restaurants, their sales steadily increased, showing about 165-fold growth in sales from 2017 to 2020.

Meanwhile, analyzing successful cases of RMR shows that menus collaborated with 'famous chefs' were highly popular. Famous chef collaboration products, which account for about 6% of total RMR products, saw sales in 2020 increase 54-fold compared to 2017. During the same period, general RMR products grew 45-fold, showing a lower growth rate than chef collaboration products. In August, chef-linked RMR products achieved sales performance more than twice as high as non-linked products. Representative products include Chef Lee Yeon-bok’s 'Mokran' Jjajangmyeon and Jjamppong, Menbosha, Chef Choi Hyun-seok’s 'Choi Dot' pasta and gnocchi, and Chef Kang Min-gu’s 'Mingles' pasta. Market Kurly analyzed that consumers increasingly choose these products because they can enjoy the verified taste of famous chefs conveniently at home and at affordable prices.

Among menus, 'Korean cuisine' accounted for more than 50%, making it the most preferred. High sales were recorded for soups, stews, and hot pot dishes such as galbitang from Busan restaurants 'Samihun' and 'Gangnam Myeonok,' and meat seolleongtang from 'Sinsun Seollongtang.' The popularity is attributed to the fact that soups cooked according to restaurant recipes are quickly frozen to preserve flavor, allowing consumers to enjoy them conveniently at home without loss of taste. Western and Chinese cuisines also ranked in popularity. Recently, exotic restaurant menus from Thailand (Amazing Thai, Song Thai, Soy Yeonnam) and Vietnam (Emoi, Phu Tin, Mai Hanoi) have also been joining the platform one after another.

Market Kurly stated, "We have expanded RMR to provide unique gourmet experiences to customers and new sales opportunities to partners," adding, "Market Kurly is also recognized for raising market quality standards by manufacturing famous restaurant products as ready meals." As of this month, Market Kurly is selling over 700 RMR products.