Food companies are locked in fierce competition in the "coin broth (solid broth)" market. As more consumers cook at home to cut dining-out costs amid high inflation, coin broth is gaining attention.
According to the industry on the 13th, after Daesang Cheongjeongwon was the first to enter the coin broth market in June 2022, CJ CheilJedang, OTOKI, Dongwon F&B and Sempio have followed into the market, intensifying competition. Coin broth is a product that naturally dissolves in boiling water in one minute to make a rich stock.
CJ CheilJedang's flagship product "Baeksul Yuksueneun 1-minute Ring" reached a cumulative 10 million units sold as of the end of August after its launch. Daesang Cheongjeongwon introduced a new product, "Matseonsaeng Gukmulnaegi Han Al." Through the global food brand O'food, it is also selling the "Gukmul Naegi Han Al (Coin Broth)" product in overseas markets including the United States, Canada and Australia.
OTOKI's "Yojeum Simple Broth Ring (beef bone·anchovy & dried herring)" surpassed a cumulative 200,000 units sold in six months after its April launch this year. Around the same time, the renewed coin broth product from Dongwon F&B has been sold overseas, including in the United States and Europe. Sempio released the coin broth "Yeonduring," linked to its steady-seller seasoning brand "Yeondu."
According to Statistics Korea, the dining-out consumer price index in October was 125.49, up about 25% from the base year (2020=100). It was also up 3% from the same month a year earlier. As dining-out costs rise, the consumer trend of "returning to home-cooked meals while minimizing cooking" has strengthened. Korea's home meal replacement (HMR) and meal kit market, which had grown to 380 billion won in 2022, saw its growth slow starting in 2023. It has entered a saturation stage.
In response, the food industry is focusing on coin broth as the next convenience meal category. As a simple cooking trend spreads among one- to two-person households—"if the broth tastes good, that's a meal"—demand for soup-based dishes is also rising. A food industry official said, "Making broth involves the cumbersome steps of prepping ingredients and boiling," adding, "solving this with a single coin broth piece is a competitive advantage."
The key to coin broth is a "standardized taste" that anyone can recreate anytime, anywhere. Just as stick coffee has replaced brewed coffee and portioned sauces have eliminated measuring seasonings, broth is also evolving with concentration, solidification and miniaturization technologies.
A food industry official said, "This will not end with products that simply shorten cooking time, but will lead to ongoing research and development (R&D) competition to standardize taste quality." Choi Cheol, a professor in the Department of Consumer Economics at Sookmyung Women's University, said, "Coin broth is establishing itself as a new convenience food as the number of one- to two-person households that value convenience and practicality increases." The professor added, "With Korean food drawing attention overseas, coin broth could also translate into exports, so technological competition will likely heat up in earnest."