'Heukbaek Yorisah' Popularity Extends to Bookstores
Will convenience store CU also experience a sales boost thanks to the popularity of the Netflix cooking competition show "Black & White Chef: Culinary Class War (Black & White Chef)"?
According to CU on the 4th, sales of Heyroo Matbam Deuktem increased by 48% over two days from the 2nd to the 3rd, while Digestive rose by 33.3%, and Toffee Nut Latte went up by 41.2%. This appears to be the aftermath of episode 8 of Black & White Chef, released on the 1st, where contestants competed in a revival round using CU products. CU stores were featured prominently in the episode. The "Chestnut Tiramisu" made by contestant "Napoli Mafia" took first place.
The Chestnut Tiramisu includes CU's private brand (PB) products such as "Yonsei Milk Maron Fresh Cream Bread," "Heyroo Matbam Deuktem," Orion's "Digestive," and Ediya's "Toffee Nut Latte."
The Yonsei Milk Maron Fresh Cream Bread used in the show was launched in October last year but is currently discontinued. Instead, sales of a similar Yonsei Milk Fresh Cream Bread increased by 32.8% compared to the same weekday the previous week.
According to the Netflix TOP10 website, Black & White Chef recorded 4.9 million views (viewing time divided by the total runtime of the work) from the 23rd to the 29th of last month. It ranked first in four countries including South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and entered the TOP 10 in a total of 28 countries. Since its release on the 17th of last month, it has been steadily performing, holding the No. 1 spot for two consecutive weeks in the Netflix global TOP 10 TV (non-English) category.
CU plans to re-release the discontinued Yonsei Milk Maron Fresh Cream Bread. Pre-orders are being accepted through the CU app "Pocket CU" until the 8th. The first 2,000 customers will also receive a Heyroo Matbam Deuktem exchange coupon. It is also reported that productization of the Chestnut Tiramisu is under consideration.
Meanwhile, the "Black & White Chef" craze is spreading to bookstores as well. Although it has not yet entered the top 200 bestsellers at Kyobo Bookstore, some cookbooks by the contestants are showing remarkable sales performance.
In particular, cooking YouTuber Choi Kang-rok's "Choi Kang-rok's Cooking Notes" quickly rose to No. 1 in the cooking category on the bestseller list after the program aired. Published in August last year, the book sold around 100 copies before the show aired, but sales surged to nearly 2,000 copies afterward, clearly benefiting from the program's popularity.
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