Distribution Industry: "Holiday Gifts Also in Convenient Meal Kits"

Ready meal gift set from Iyeon FNC.

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] Ahead of the Lunar New Year, the distribution industry is launching holiday gift sets one after another to attract customers. This Lunar New Year, due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 leading to a normalized stay-at-home lifestyle and the expansion of demand for convenience foods, the release of gift sets composed of convenience foods is active. The industry is capturing the attention of consumers preparing holiday gifts with sets composed of various types of convenience foods.

According to the industry on the 23rd, Iyeon FNC introduced various gift set products for the Lunar New Year, including a convenient soup set.

Iyeon FNC's representative convenience food gift set products include the ‘Hanwoo Sagol Gomtang Set’ and ‘Three Types of Broth Set’ which can be used for various soup dishes, the ‘Seolleongtang House 3-Item Set’ consisting of Seolleongtang, Yukgaejang, and Beef Radish Soup, and the ‘Hangover Soup 3-Item Set’ consisting of Pollack Hangover Soup, Beef Market Hangover Soup, and Ham-filled Budae Jjigae.

In addition, they sell a total of eight types of soup convenience food products, including the ‘Broth & Market Soup Rice 5-Item Set’ composed of broth and hangover soup, and the ‘Seolleongtang House 5-Item Set’ where you can taste various soup convenience foods, including frozen products.

Ready-to-eat gift set from Daesang.

Daesang also prepared a ‘Stay-at-Home Holiday Set’ for consumers who will stay at home due to COVID-19.

The limited edition ‘Stay-at-Home Holiday Set’ composed of home meal replacements was carefully selected with products perfect for health tonics and snacks, consisting of the ‘Healthy Korean Food Set’, ‘Feast Set’, ‘Air Fryer Snack Set’, ‘Home Drinking Soju Snack Set’, and ‘Home Drinking Beer Snack Set’.

They also reintroduced the ‘My Own Pantry Set’, which was popular last Chuseok, composed of 15 types of convenience foods including pantry staples such as soups and stews, retort foods like curry and black bean sauce, and meal replacement convenience foods like Miwon Ramen.

Hyundai Department Store Ready-to-Eat Meal Set.

In the case of Hyundai Department Store, they launched restaurant meal replacement (RMR) gift sets.

The representative gift sets include the ‘One Table Famous Restaurant Convenience Food Set’, which is composed of RMRs of representative menus from famous restaurants nationwide such as the aged Hanwoo specialty restaurant 'Umihak' and the tteokbokki snack bar Hongmidan, and the ‘One Table Jeongseongdam Galbitang Set’, which is made by selecting only the highest quality beef ribs and cooking them with the traditional know-how of the galbitang specialty restaurant 'Jeongseongdam'.

Additionally, they introduced the ‘Seongsan Myungga Cherry Blossom Honey Sauce Galbi Set’, where ribs are marinated with the signature sauce ‘Cherry Blossom Honey Sauce’ of the famous galbi restaurant with 20 years of tradition ‘Seongsan Myungga’, and the ‘Mongtan Udae Galbi Set’ from the straw fire-grilling specialty restaurant ‘Mongtan’.

An industry official said, “As COVID-19 prolongs, more consumers want to enjoy simple but high-quality food at home, leading to a significant increase in demand for convenience foods. With more customers wanting to give practical convenience foods as holiday gifts, gift sets using convenience foods are gaining popularity in the distribution industry.”