SEOUL, KOREA - Korea's dosirak market is expanding at a rapid pace as an increase number of office workers are using dosirak for lunch. Dosirak refers to packaged, single-portion, portable meal.
The sales of dosirak at some convenience stores have grown by more than 100 percent per year over the past four years along with the shift of the nation's demographics toward single-person households, plus a prolonged economic slowdown.
According to the convenience store industry on June 16, the sales of dosirak at the nation's top-three convenience store chains—CU, 7Eleven and GS25—rose by 44.1 percent, 99.5 percent, and 111.3 percent year on year over the past four years starting from the year 2009.
The franchise industry estimates the size of the nation's dosirak market to have reached 2 trillion won last year. A CU official said, "Since the global financial crisis, the sales of dosirak have grown by 40-50 percent per year. This upward trend is expected to continue for the time being."
Against this backdrop, Japan's No. 1 dosirak brand Hotto Motto is increasing the number of its stores in Korea. Hotto Motto, which recently opened its third Korean location in Ilsan, plans to increase the number of its shops up to more than 200 over the next three years.
