[Start人] The 'Salad Youth' Who Achieved 30 Billion KRW in Sales After 6 Years

Domestic Salad Market Size Increases by Double Digits Annually
Sweet Balance Reaches 30 Billion KRW in Sales 6 Years After Founding with 100,000 Members
Competing with 130 Salad Varieties in Taste and Diversity

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The domestic salad market has long surpassed the 1 trillion won mark. Although exact statistics are difficult to obtain and estimates are used, the industry explains that the market size grows by double digits every year.

According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, the fresh convenience fruit and vegetable market approached 889.4 billion won in 2018 and 936.9 billion won in 2019, reaching 1.1369 trillion won last year. This represents an average annual growth rate of around 20% since 2010. Fresh convenience fruits and vegetables refer to minimally processed agricultural products that are washed and cut in a fresh state, with "salads" falling into this category.

As changes in dietary habits rapidly expanded the market size, the salad market became a battleground for large corporations and unicorn companies (startups valued at over 1 billion USD). However, amidst this competition, there are startups achieving remarkable results by competing and cooperating with large corporations through unique subscription services.

From Salad Specialty Store to Company with a Specialized Factory

100,000 regular members. This is the number of people using the subscription service of ‘Sweet Balance,’ a salad specialty company rather than a newspaper or magazine.

Jang Ji-min, co-CEO of Sweet Balance, is a 34-year-old young entrepreneur who, six years after founding a salad specialty store in September 2015 in the so-called ‘Sharosugil’ area (near Seoul National University Station on Seoul Subway Line 2) with co-CEO Lee Woon-sung, a senior from school and Seoul National University startup club, has grown the business into a respectable company with sales of 30 billion won this year.

Sweet Balance has a salad specialty manufacturing factory in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, operates 22 offline stores and its own online mall. It supplies salads to Coupang’s GomGom Salad, catering company Samsung Welstory, GS convenience stores, and Market Kurly. On Instagram, it has over 30,000 followers, the largest number in the single salad category.

CEO Jang said, "This year, the number of subscribers is rapidly increasing by 5,000 to 10,000 each month compared to the same month last year."

Consumer response is also positive. Sweet Balance conducted a pilot subscription service this year on Kakao Subscription On, delivering four salads weekly, four times a month, with a three-month contract priced at 300,000 won (100,000 won per month), and the customer churn rate over three months was only 10%. CEO Jang plans to improve this service model and officially launch it in April next year. The plan is to increase subscribers by offering more discounts to customers who subscribe for over a year.

CEO Jang said, "Depending on the choice, the subscription fee is generally around 80,000 to 100,000 won per month now," adding, "We plan to lower the monthly subscription fee to 40,000 to 60,000 won by giving more discounts to long-term subscribers."

130 Types of Salads a Day, Diversity as a Competitive Edge

Sales growth is as steep as the number of customers. Sales surpassed 4.5 billion won in 2019, exceeded 10 billion won last year, and are expected to reach 30 billion won this year. Sweet Balance has raised a total of 11.3 billion won through Series B investment this year and aims for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2024.

CEO Jang said, "It looks like the next three years will be really busy," and assessed, "The key will be how many ‘salad nomads’?customers who move from one subscription to another because of tasteless salads?Sweet Balance can attract."

Sweet Balance estimates the market size formed solely by finished salad products at about 150 billion won. Offline, ‘Salady,’ with over 200 stores, is considered a strong player, and online malls like ‘FreshCode’ compete with Sweet Balance. Numerous other companies such as CJ CheilJedang, Paris Baguette, ChaeSeonDang, and FreshEasy are also competing.

The competitiveness of salads lies in diversity. Just as eating the same rice and side dishes every day becomes tiresome, salads must offer different varieties daily to customers. The reason why ‘salad nomads’ switch to other brands within a month of subscribing is that many providers fail to offer a variety of salads.

CEO Jang explains that this is where Sweet Balance’s strength lies. He said, "Sweet Balance produces 130 types of salads daily and delivers them to customers. The Seongnam factory produces over 40,000 salads per day. FreshCode produces 12 types of salads, and Salady makes salads directly in stores, so they do not exceed 20 types."