Gyowon Life's Food and Beverage Sales Surpass Funeral Business... F&B Sector Draws Attention

F&B Revenue Surpasses Event and Funeral Income for the First Time Last Year
Diversifying Revenue Streams with F&B at Directly Operated Funeral Halls
Kyowon Life: "Enhancing F&B Services for Bereaved Families and Mourners"

Kyowon Life is achieving remarkable results in the food and beverage (F&B) business. Amid an overall increase in sales last year, the 'F&B revenue' generated from directly operated funeral halls surpassed both 'event revenue' and 'funeral revenue' for the first time. This is interpreted as the result of continuously strengthening the F&B business, including actively developing in-house menus. Kyowon Life plans to further enhance branding of its directly operated funeral halls and F&B capabilities, focusing on service advancement and differentiation.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 15th, Kyowon Life recorded sales of 125.5 billion KRW and an operating profit of 3.9 billion KRW last year. The noteworthy point is the composition of sales. Among the sales related to funeral services, F&B revenue amounted to 16.4 billion KRW, surpassing event revenue (15.2 billion KRW) and funeral revenue (11.3 billion KRW). This is the first time since 2019 that F&B revenue has been separately recorded in the audit report. At that time, F&B revenue was about 700 million KRW, growing approximately 24 times over six years. The strategy of emphasizing not only the funeral space but also the quality of food and on-site service experience is reflected throughout the revenue structure.

From the left, images of 'Hamkkerageo' and 'Yeum Yukgaejang'. Kyowon Life

F&B revenue consists of sales of Kyowon Life’s private brand (PB) products such as craft beer and Yukgaejang (spicy beef soup) sold at the directly operated funeral hall 'Kyowon Yeoum.' Event revenue arises from services used by subscribed customers, including funeral services or conversion services such as weddings and travel, while funeral revenue comes from the use of 'Kyowon Yeoum' facilities.

The reason Kyowon Life focuses on the F&B business is due to intensified competition surrounding directly operated funeral halls. As the funeral service market recently grew to about 10 trillion KRW, the industry has entered a differentiation competition centered on directly operated funeral halls. The top three companies by accumulated advance payments?Fried Life (15 locations), Boram Sangjo (13 locations), and Kyowon Life (7 locations)?operate directly managed funeral halls nationwide and plan further expansion.

These companies are striving to improve spaces by decorating the interior and exterior of buildings like hotels to shed the existing negative image of funeral halls. Kyowon Life places as much importance on the software aspect of 'directly experienced service quality' as on the hardware aspect of visible 'aesthetics.' They judged that factors such as the dining experience, hygiene, and taste encountered by bereaved families and mourners at Kyowon Yeoum significantly influence brand satisfaction.

Kyowon Life recognized limitations in service quality through consignment operations and began converting F&B services at all branches to a directly operated system starting with the acquisition of Gimhae Specialized Funeral Hall (Kyowon Yeoum Gimhae Funeral Hall) in 2019. Since the launch of the 'Kyowon Yeoum' brand in 2023, they have consecutively introduced differentiated menus such as craft beers 'Naegyeot Ale' and 'Hamkker Lager,' and 'Yeoum Yukgaejang.' Currently, four Kyowon Yeoum funeral halls have received the 'Excellent' hygiene grade from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s restaurant hygiene rating, and they plan to complete hygiene grade certification for all branches by the first half of 2026 to strengthen food hygiene reliability.

A Kyowon Life official stated, "Reflecting the bereaved families’ desire to serve high-quality food to mourners, we are continuously advancing and differentiating our F&B services. We plan to keep introducing special menus that can only be experienced at Kyowon Yeoum funeral halls."