The Reason Why So Many Tanghulu Shops Suddenly Disappeared

118 Tanghulu Shops Nationwide Closed This Year
Shop Owners' Concerns Grow as Popularity Cools on SNS

The crisis facing Tanghulu, which briefly rose to fame as a 'national snack' last year, is becoming apparent. This year, the cumulative number of store closures has surpassed the number of new openings. This is the first time since records began that closures have outnumbered openings. The average monthly number of closures has surged to four times last year's level, deepening the worries of self-employed business owners.

The crisis of Tanghulu, which briefly rose to fame as a "national snack" last year, is becoming apparent. This year, the cumulative number of closed stores has surpassed the number of newly opened stores.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

According to the local administrative permit data released by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 15th, as of the 13th, the cumulative number of Tanghulu store closures nationwide was recorded at 118. The cumulative number of new openings was only 71. This marks a significant change compared to last year. Until 2022, fewer than 100 Tanghulu stores opened annually, but in 2023 alone, 1,374 new Tanghulu stores opened. Closures, which had not even reached 10 stores by 2022, jumped to 72 in 2023, and currently, more than 100 stores have closed their doors.

Some are concerned that the Tanghulu phenomenon, which once enjoyed explosive popularity, is now facing market saturation and mass closures, reminiscent of past incidents like the 'Coffee Bun (2012)' and 'Taiwan Castella (2016)' crises. Adding to this are the challenging economic conditions and soaring monthly rents. Examining the regional distribution of Tanghulu stores opened last year, 29% were in Gyeonggi-do, 17% in Seoul, and 7% in Incheon, with a total of 53% concentrated in the metropolitan area.

Data platform company SomeTrend also reported statistics showing that mentions of Tanghulu on X (formerly Twitter), blogs, and Instagram peaked at 128,931 in September last year and then sharply declined. According to this data, as of last month, mentions dropped to 16,521, indicating that popularity has fallen to about one-tenth of its peak.

As Tanghulu's popularity fades faster than expected, some business owners are changing their sales strategies by handling other products alongside Tanghulu as a last-ditch effort. They register their stores as coffee shops or Chinese cuisine specialty restaurants to sell other items and offset the declining Tanghulu sales. Meanwhile, reviews of closures are appearing among self-employed business owners. On online cafes where self-employed individuals gather, posts such as "Tanghulu is over now. It seems like the process of going bankrupt," and "I opened because the commercial area was good, but sales are unstable. Considering changing the business type," are spreading.