[News Terms] The Secret to Best-Selling Yakgwa: 'Halmaennial'

'Halmaennial' is a term combining 'halmae,' a dialect word for grandmother, and 'millennial,' referring to the generation born between the 1980s and 2000. It describes millennials who have tastes and preferences that grandmothers or grandfathers would likely enjoy.

The word reflects the characteristic of younger generations embracing things from the past as fresh new culture. A representative food item in the Halmaennial trend is yakgwa, a traditional Korean honey cookie. The biggest factor behind yakgwa's recent surge in popularity, especially among young people, is its strong association with ancestral rites food.

Marketing of Halmaennial products.
Photo by Wemakeprice

The term Halmaennial has been used occasionally before, but it became widely known starting last year. Last year, yakgwa sold at 'Jangin Hangwa' in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, gained explosive popularity, causing shortages. As it became difficult to purchase, the term 'yakting (yakgwa + ticketing)' emerged, meaning yakgwa that is as hard to get as tickets to idol concerts.

Following this, other yakgwa sellers and the confectionery industry benchmarked Jangin Yakgwa's case and released various products using yakgwa. As these products were introduced through SNS and more people began to enjoy them, the use of the term Halmaennial gradually increased.

Recently, sales of hangwa, including yakgwa, have significantly increased in major distribution channels. For example, at SSG.com, sales of hangwa from January to April this year rose 50% compared to the same period last year. The yakgwa brand 'Kkuliguma,' available on Lotte On, saw sales in February increase more than tenfold compared to the previous year.

The distribution industry analyzes the reasons for yakgwa's popularity as ▲ the MZ generation's interest and curiosity in old foods and products ▲ rarity due to difficulty in purchasing ▲ the SNS trend of combining yakgwa with other foods that perfectly suits Halmaennial tastes ▲ and major confectionery brands releasing related products aligned with the Halmaennial trend. An industry insider said, "We can feel the popularity as people are lining up at offline popular yakgwa stores."