Catering company Hyundai Green Food reorganized to bolster its care-food brand "Greeting." Greeting is a portmanteau of "Great" and "Eating," and is a specialized care-food brand for health management. It offers customized meal plans by health goal—such as protein, low sugar, and low calorie—as well as Ministry of Food and Drug Safety-certified medical foods for specific conditions like cancer and diabetes.
According to the industry on the 7th, Hyundai Green Food elevated the Greeting business unit to the Greeting division when it carried out its regular organizational reshuffle along with the recently implemented "2026 group regular personnel appointments." It signaled a resolve to strengthen the Greeting business, including care foods.
As a result, under the CEO, the Greeting division was added to the existing three divisions—the product division, the distribution and dining-out division, and the food service business division. Until now, the Greeting business unit had been included in the food service business division, which handles institutional meals.
Hyundai Green Food is focusing on the Greeting brand because Korea's population structure is aging rapidly and the number of single-person households is rising. Interest in health management is also growing across age groups.
Moon Jeong-hun, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at Seoul National University, said, "If you limit medical foods to hospital diets, the market is small, but if you absorb consumers who care about health and want to manage it proactively, the market is large."
The assessment that further growth is difficult in the catering business also played a role. In the institutional catering market, four companies—OURHOME of Hanwha Group, Samsung Welstory of Samsung Group, CJ Freshway of CJ Group, and Hyundai Green Food of Hyundai Department Store Group—account for 80% of the market.
Among them, Hyundai Green Food is in a position to prepare for the continuity of volumes from the wider Hyundai-affiliated groups. According to 2020 data from the Fair Trade Commission, Hyundai Green Food won 440 billion won in orders from Hyundai Motor Group and Hyundai Heavy Industries Group. Considering that food service institutional sector sales at the time were 630 billion won, the wider Hyundai share works out to about 69%.
Hyundai Green Food is moving proactively to solidify the Greeting business. In July, it halted Greeting's finished goods ready-meal subscription service that had been offered to seniors. The decision followed data showing limited demand for the full-course subscription format that included soups, stews, and side dishes. Senior households, unlike single young-to-middle-aged adults or dual-income households, often prepare meals themselves. Instead, the company judged that many supplement with single items and decided to strengthen that area.
It plans to further strengthen the business-to-business (B2B) institutional sector. Hyundai Green Food currently supplies care foods to long-term care hospitals, nursing homes, and welfare centers.
The food industry is watching Hyundai Green Food's moves closely. Few food companies are not already involved in the senior market. Maeil Dairies and hy are targeting the senior market with protein-fortified drinks and probiotic beverages. Comprehensive food company Ottogi also sought business opportunities last year by investing equity in the medical food start-up "Eatmaple" as a new B2B venture. However, when looking across investment, product development, and business organization, the prevailing view is that Hyundai Green Food holds the advantage.
A food industry official said, "The fact that Hyundai Green Food created a business division means the company has internally concluded that it can sufficiently translate its growth trajectory into numbers and that it is time for the division to help raise corporate value," adding, "It also means Hyundai Green Food has competitiveness in this field."
A Hyundai Green Food official said, "Since 2020, Greeting has established itself as one of the company's core growth engines," and added, "With the launch of the new division, we will not only expand the business but also lead the growth of the domestic care-food market."