Lunch costs 15,000 won... NHN Payco "Samsung-dong has the most expensive lunch prices for office workers"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] The most expensive meal prices for office workers in the Seoul metropolitan area are found in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, with the average meal allowance provided by companies amounting to 8,000 KRW.

According to NHN Payco's analysis on the 3rd quarter payment data of employees from companies using the 'Payco Mobile Meal Voucher Service' as of the 19th, the area with the highest spending per meal was Samseong-dong, recording 15,000 KRW.

This analysis was conducted on approximately 2.3 million payment transactions made via Payco meal vouchers from July to September in 13 major office districts in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Following Samseong-dong were Yeouido (12,500 KRW), Gangnam (12,000 KRW), and Seocho (11,000 KRW). Magok (11,000 KRW), which has recently seen the relocation of major companies' research and development (R&D) centers and bio companies, ranked higher than Pangyo (10,000 KRW), known as the IT companies' hub. On the other hand, meal prices in Gasan (7,500 KRW) and Guro (7,000 KRW) were relatively inexpensive.

Separately from actual meal expenses, the average meal allowance provided by companies in the metropolitan area has steadily increased from 6,000 KRW in 2017 to 8,000 KRW this year. However, this amount is the same as last year, which is interpreted as reflecting the difficulties in corporate management due to the recent economic downturn affecting employee welfare.

The highest meal allowance provided by companies was 30,000 KRW, while the lowest was 4,500 KRW. By industry, hospitals recorded an average meal allowance of 6,000 KRW, and universities 5,000 KRW, indicating that their employees mainly use inexpensive cafeterias for lunch.

Meanwhile, NHN Payco launched its mobile meal voucher service in May 2017 and currently provides corporate welfare solutions including meal vouchers and welfare points to about 1,700 companies such as SK Hynix, NCSoft, Netmarble Company, and Coway.

It can be used not only at approximately 70,000 offline meal voucher affiliated stores but also at online payment affiliated stores such as delivery apps and side dish shopping malls during remote work, leading to a rapid increase in user companies.

An NHN Payco official stated, “About 800,000 payment transactions are accumulated monthly through the mobile meal voucher service, and based on this, we plan to extract various insights and advance the service. Based on this, we will provide optimal services to client companies and establish ourselves as a leading business in the industry.”