Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday on the 17th, distribution and food companies are rapidly shifting their holiday strategies from traditional ritual ingredients to home meal replacements (HMR). That is because more households are skipping or streamlining ancestral rites, and the cost burden for the ritual table is rising. The industry is working to expand the convenience food market to capture holiday demand.
According to related industries on the 15th, a survey by the Rural Development Administration of 1,000 consumers in the greater Seoul area found that 63.9% said they would not hold ancestral rites this Lunar New Year, up 12.4% from a year earlier. Among households not holding rites, 46.2% said they purchase agricultural and food products at about the same level as usual during the holiday period. Analysts say the holiday is no longer seen as a special period for bulk buying but as an extension of everyday consumption. Even among households that do hold rites, the trend of reducing the number and volume of dishes has become clear, leading to growing demand for convenience foods such as semi-cooked items and finished goods instead of cooking from scratch.
High inflation has also fueled the expansion of convenience food demand. According to the "Lunar New Year ritual table expense" survey by the Seoul Agro-Fisheries & Food Corporation of 25 locations, including traditional markets, big-box stores, and Garak Market (Garak Mall) in Seoul, the purchase expense for key in-season items rose more than 4% year over year at both traditional markets and large retailers.
With holiday customs changing, companies are moving to secure the convenience food market. Convenience store chains are the most aggressive in staking out the holiday convenience food segment. Major chains rolled out a wave of holiday lunch boxes packed with jeon, namul, tteokguk, bulgogi, and more, along with small-portion convenience items, targeting one- to two-person households and the "honmyeongjok" (people spending the holiday alone). GS25, run by GS Retail, introduced the "This Month's Lunchbox February Lunar New Year Edition" with a nine-side-dish bansang concept, along with "King Dumpling Tteokguk" and "Assorted Jeon & Japchae." It also released "Holiday Tteokgalbi Kimchi Fried Rice" and "Whole Meat Patty Jeon Kimbap."
CU, operated by BGF Retail, launched Lunar New Year convenience foods including an eight-banchan lunchbox set and two types of seven-jeon assortments, and is running value promotions on holiday-related items. Seven-Eleven released the "Giun Hansang Lunchbox" with 11 side dishes, while E-MART 24 adopted an upscale strategy by increasing the variety with the K-holiday full-option platter featuring 12 side dishes, including neobiani and three kinds of namul.
Hypermarkets and online malls also increased the share of HMR and small-pack items for holiday tables. Lotte Mart and E-MART placed convenience food sets and collaborations with famous restaurants front and center, tied to early-bird reservations for Lunar New Year gifts, to capture holiday spending. Lotte Mart said sales of convenience food gift sets jumped fivefold from a year earlier. E-MART is running a 10%–30% discount through the 17th, the holiday itself, on Peacock ritual convenience foods such as sliced rice cakes for tteokguk and assorted jeon.
Food companies are also speeding up efforts to bolster holiday-focused convenience food lineups. A "partial convenience" strategy—segmenting core holiday menu items like bulgogi, tteokguk, namul, and broth into convenience formats to replace only parts of the preparation process—is emerging as the main approach. Harim released "The Miseuk Juicy Tteokgalbi," suitable for holiday tables. Earlier, it launched two types of tteokguk broth: "Rich Beef Bone" and "Clear Anchovy."
Hyundai Green Food opened a special "How we prepare for the holiday" promotion and is selling 63 types of holiday-table HMR, including bulgogi, tteokguk, and namul, at up to 15% off through its official online mall. NongHyup Mokuchon, aiming at both holiday and everyday side-dish demand, introduced two new frozen cooking products under the "Housewife 9 Dan Sonmatgadeuk" brand: "Donggeurangttaeng" and "Tteokgalbi."
The retail industry says that as changes in ritual culture and the rise of single-person households blur the line between holiday consumption patterns and year-round everyday spending, holiday convenience foods are helping drive the expansion of the convenience food market throughout the year.
A retail industry official said, "These days it is hard to expect the kind of holiday boom we saw in the past. As most ritual tables are replaced with convenience foods and more households skip rites, the convenience food market, which sees steady demand even after the holiday, will grow." Another official said, "As consumer channels diversify, there will be more active new product launches and marketing to capture them."