As dining-out prices rise and "lunchflation" (a portmanteau of lunch and inflation) worsens, office workers' related spending patterns are changing. As demand for packed lunches grows, the food industry is moving to expand its side-dish HMR (home meal replacement) businesses.
According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics (MODS) on the 13th, the March consumer price index institutional sector for dining out recorded 127.28, up 2.8% from a year earlier. This index uses 2020 dining-out prices as the base of 100, and a higher figure means a greater burden on consumers. As a result, there is a clear shift toward value-for-money purchases such as convenience store lunch boxes, salads, and HMR. Combining thrift with a culture of self-care, including health, packing one's own lunch is spreading as a new lifestyle.
Keeping pace with this trend, the food industry is strengthening its side-dish HMR business. Dongwon F&B overhauled its HMR-focused online mall "The Banchan &" to target the side-dish market. It is diversifying its HMR menu lab into three categories and developing new recipes. Previously, The Banchan & products were produced at Dongwon's Gasan plant, but as HMR menus diversified, the company halted in-house production and shifted to an external consignment model, outsourcing to firms specialized in small-lot, multi-item production. Dongwon is also expanding its Korean HMR lineup centered on the "Yangban" brand. It plans to grow it into a Korean convenience-food brand by broadening the lineup—once focused on gim and juk—to soups, stews, and instant rice. According to Dongwon F&B, last year's sales of the Yangban brand rose about 20% from a year earlier.
OTOKI launched the premium HMR brand "OZ Kitchen" in 2019 and surpassed a cumulative 100 billion won in sales in 2024. OZ Kitchen has expanded its portfolio beyond side dishes to include chilled soups and frozen rice balls, fried rice, and chicken. It currently offers a total of 10 categories and 56 products.
Pulmuone, through its "Bandeuthansik" brand, has secured a diverse side-dish HMR lineup, including namul side dishes as well as meatballs, tteokgalbi, and donggeurangttaeng. Bandeuthansik mainly offered guk, tang, and jjigae products, but with the recent expansion of side-dish lineups, it now sells cooking sauces and pickled side dishes, as well as frozen side dishes. The company aims to solidify its image as a premium Korean convenience-food brand. Recently, side-dish HMR has been trending toward sales not only on each company's own mall but also through offline channels.
A food industry official said, "As the perception that lunch is expensive spreads, a lunchbox culture is expanding among office workers, and demand for side-dish HMR to save time is also growing," adding, "With steady demand growth expected, the industry as a whole is broadly expanding lineups from basic side dishes to unique ones and actively ramping up marketing."
Within the food industry, there is speculation that the market may develop in a direction similar to Japan's lunch culture. In Japan, a lunchbox-centered food culture has taken root, and the side-dish convenience-food market is advanced. Alongside a decline in dining out, it has shown steady growth. In Korea as well, factors such as the increase in single-person households, the burden of dining-out costs, and delivery fatigue are working in combination, making it highly likely that the shift from dining out to lunchboxes and convenience foods will accelerate.
Lee Eun-hee, a professor in the Department of Consumer Science at Inha University, said, "Prices that rise once do not come down easily. Office workers' burden from dining-out prices is on the rise," adding, "Lunchboxes that use side-dish HMR and the like are one way to reduce the burden of dining-out prices. It is positive that the food industry is expanding side-dish lineups at reasonable prices."