Seoul City to Promote Joint Seoul Youth Meal Kit Startup Incubating Project with Garak Market and Lotte Mart... Expert Advisory Group Including Famous Chefs, Marketers, and Investors Provides Close Support for Startup Success and Meal Kit Market Establishment... Around 100 Youth Meal Kit Entrepreneurs to Graduate This Year... Recruiting Seoul Youth Aged 19-39 Until April 15
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Garak Market, the largest wholesale market for agricultural and marine products in Korea, known as a hub for healthy agricultural and marine products from all over the country and possessing a nationwide distribution network, is being reborn as a base camp for ‘Seoul Youth Meal Kit Startups.’
Garak Market is the largest wholesale market in Korea trading over 370 items of agricultural and marine products nationwide. Last year, the transaction amount reached approximately 5.2 trillion KRW, with a transaction volume of about 2.3 million tons.
Meal kits, a compound of Meal and Kit, also called ‘cooking boxes,’ are semi-prepared foods consisting of pre-cut ingredients and seasonings, allowing for easy meal preparation with simple cooking.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will collaborate with Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation (Garak Market) and Lotte Mart to support ‘Youth Meal Kit Startups’ to alleviate the deepening youth employment crisis and promote youth entrepreneurship in the food sector.
In line with the rapid growth of the meal kit market due to the increase in single-person households and the establishment of a contactless era, the city aims to support young entrepreneurs in realizing their ideas in the food sector and create substantial, customized youth jobs.
The meal kit market size grew significantly from 10 billion KRW in 2017 to 188.2 billion KRW in 2020, and it is expected to expand further to 725.3 billion KRW by 2025. Source: KREI (Korea Rural Economic Institute)
Among the total HMR (Home Meal Replacement) market size of 40 trillion KRW in 2020, the meal kit market accounts for about 5%, but its growth potential is expected to surpass that of other retort foods and frozen foods.
Notably, this project enhances efficiency by concentrating the accumulated know-how and capabilities through public-private cooperation. ▲The Seoul Metropolitan Government, operating the ‘Seoul Food Startup Center,’ a specialized food startup institution, provides close support such as finance, marketing, and expert consulting to outstanding young entrepreneurs. ▲Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation supports everything from professional education for meal kit startups to prototype production and commercialization. ▲Lotte Mart, which has sales channels, supports product placement in stores, providing a point of contact where developed meal kits can meet consumers.
Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation utilizes its own training facilities and cooking studios to conduct an 8-week program covering theory and practical training (prototype production and commercialization) related to meal kit startups, including consulting.
Lotte Mart participates in the prototype production process of participants to evaluate product marketability. For products with high market potential, it provides detailed product diagnosis, product enhancement consulting, mass commercialization, and product placement within Lotte Mart, supporting successful startups with both popularity and business viability.
The ‘Seoul Food Startup Center,’ a specialized agricultural and food startup incubation institution of Seoul City, supports continuous growth of meal kit startup youths by providing expert mentoring in various fields and opportunities for live commerce to expand sales channels based on its accumulated agricultural and food startup incubation capabilities. Particularly, teams with excellent performance among participants will be selected to use shared office spaces and open kitchens at the Seoul Food Startup Center for up to two years, with follow-up support through incubation programs.
Additionally, to increase the success potential of youth startups, customized consulting is provided through an ‘Expert Advisory Group’ composed of about 15 members, including famous chefs, food service companies (such as home meal replacements), advertising agencies, investment firms, and brand and marketing experts during the process.
Throughout the 8-week course, in-depth education on meal kit commercialization, marketing, and distribution is conducted, and 1:1 expert consulting and mentoring are provided on the meal kits and startup strategies developed by trainees.
In particular, chefs Kang Leo and Park Chan-il, participating as mentors and top experts in the field, will conduct thorough taste evaluations and provide marketability and commercialization consulting for products developed by participants.
The ‘Seoul Youth Meal Kit Startup Support’ project, starting for the first time this year, plans to select and nurture about 100 participants annually over three sessions. Each session will select 15 teams to undergo an 8-week program including education, consulting, and product development.
Applications for the first session of the ‘Youth Meal Kit Startup Support’ project are open until April 15. Any Seoul resident aged 19 to 39 who is preparing or interested in starting a meal kit business using ‘Healthy & Fresh’ agricultural, marine, and livestock products from Garak Market can apply.
Applicants planning to collaborate with small business owners (such as restaurants) within Garak Market will receive additional points during selection. Applications can be submitted through the website of Insight Platform Co., Ltd., the project operator.
Moon Young-pyo, President of Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation, stated, “We will create synergy for youth startups by combining Garak Market’s healthy ingredients,” and added, “By cooperating and pooling capabilities between the public and private sectors, we will establish a business model where meal kits created by youth can succeed together through sales channel activation linked with small business owners.”
Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Seoul City’s Economic Policy Office, said, “In line with changes in the consumer market, Seoul will support youth startup success with its know-how in startup support, sales channels to meet consumers, the best ingredients, and expert support,” and added, “We will utilize Garak Market’s function and distribution network, where the freshest and healthiest food can be found nationwide, to help meal kits from all over the country reach the tables of all citizens.”
Seoul City plans to consider supporting meal kit product development costs and startup preparation funds in the future and aims to gradually expand the project so that as many young people as possible can benefit.
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