"Customized Meals Just for Me" Personalization Trend Sweeps the Food Industry

Impact of Online Food Market Growth
Analyzing Customer Characteristics Through Purchase Data
Food Tech Development Also Plays a Role
Industry Launches Personalized Diet Business

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] As consumption centered around the ‘self’ and personalization trends spread, the food industry is also experiencing a personalization craze where individuals choose ‘meals just for me’ and ‘health functional foods just for me’ by considering personal life cycles, preferences, and health conditions.

The core background driving the recent personalization of food is the online food market, which has rapidly grown and become mainstream after COVID-19. According to Statistics Korea on the 4th, last year, the domestic online food market size was recorded at a record high of 58.5 trillion won. This is more than double the size compared to 2019 (26.9 trillion won) in just two years.

The online market offers advantages beyond simply purchasing without visiting in person; it allows analysis of customer characteristics and behavior patterns based on data such as individual preferences, interests, and health status. This serves as the foundation for increasing consumer satisfaction by utilizing finely analyzed data in a hyper-personalized marketing system. Food manufacturers are also establishing contact strategies according to generational food trend changes, releasing products in various categories desired by each generation, allowing consumers to select personalized foods according to their tastes.

The personalization craze in food also has a technological background in the development of ‘FoodTech.’ FoodTech, a combination of food and technology, presents a new paradigm in the food industry by recommending customized products through algorithms analyzing online consumption behavior based on advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and 3D printers, and by collecting and analyzing health data via IoT-based devices to derive necessary nutrients for users in real time. Through this, companies can segment and predict the market moment by moment, and consumers can purchase customized foods accurately and conveniently.

The customized food market, growing based on the development of the online food market and FoodTech, is further activated through subscription and delivery services that allow products to be delivered at the needed time and place. Meal subscription services recommend and regularly deliver appropriate meal plans according to individual life stages, health conditions, and other purposes, offering a variety of options such as healthy meals, diet control meals, and children’s meals, allowing subscriptions tailored to individual needs.

Hyundai Green Food launched a subscription meal service under the care food specialized brand ‘Greeting’ in April. The ‘Greeting Diabetes Meal Plan’ is a convenient meal subscription service designed for consumers managing blood sugar levels, expanding from the existing elderly meal service business to a B2C service. Pulmuone also introduced Design Meal, a personal customized meal business platform integrating five categories this January, including infant food and customized meals for infants and kids, nutritional balanced meals for adolescents and adults, elderly-friendly meals, calorie-controlled meals, and disease management meals.