Raw Material Improvement Project Launched
Ready Meals and Convenience Stores Account for 10% of Total Sales
Burger and Sandwich Breads Also Upgraded
CU, a convenience store operated by BGF Retail, announced on the 9th that it will launch the 'Ready Meal Quality Innovation Project,' focusing on upgrading the quality of raw materials.
Through this project, CU aims to improve the quality of raw materials, the most important factor determining taste. Ready meals have become a key strategic product, accounting for about 10% of total convenience store sales.
There is also an aspect of leading the convenience store ready meal 3.0 era. The late 2000s to mid-2010s, when lunch boxes first appeared in convenience stores and the product range expanded, is classified as the ready meal 1.0 era, and the mid-2010s to early 2020s, when menus diversified and portions and compositions were expanded, is the ready meal 2.0 era.
CU’s Ready Meal Quality Innovation Project was first applied to lunch boxes. This is because sales of convenience store lunch boxes have significantly increased recently due to the continuous rise in dining-out prices. From January to August this year, the category of ready meals at CU that showed the highest growth rate compared to the same period last year was lunch boxes (24.7%). This was followed by kimbap (23.1%), rice balls (22.7%), hamburgers (16.8%), and sandwiches (15.5%).
CU uses first-grade Dodram Korean pork chilled meat instead of frozen meat for pork, which is often used as the main side dish in lunch boxes. This is to enhance flavor and texture by using domestic chilled meat. The chilled Korean pork was first applied to CU’s recently launched products: the overwhelming Korean pork kimchi stir-fry, soy sauce bulgogi, and Baek Jong-won’s triple meat platter lunch boxes.
For fried rice lunch boxes, instead of the existing bibimbap preparation method, rice and various ingredients are stir-fried in a large pot at a high temperature of 280°C to make fried rice. The first product to apply this method, the 'Baek Jong-won Spicy Mala Chicken Lunch Box,' is said to deliver restaurant-level taste.
The quality of bread for hamburgers and sandwiches has been improved. Hamburgers are made with glazed buns treated with butter glazing on top. The glazed bun minimizes shrinkage after microwave heating, preserving texture. Sandwiches use premium bread made with patented lactic acid bacteria fermentation starter. This lactic acid bacteria fermented bread is characterized by moistness and chewiness and reduces gluten to aid digestion. Some products use premium bread with seven added grains.
Yeo Da-som, head of BGF Retail’s Ready Meal Team, said, "This project aims to provide customers with high-quality products in the fiercely competitive convenience store ready meal market, securing overwhelming competitiveness for CU," adding, "CU will continue efforts to offer delicious and high-quality ready meals to customers."
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