Market size of meal kits South Korea 2019-2025

The overall market size of meal kits in South Korea stood at approximately 258.7 billion South Korean won in 2021 and was expected to grow further and more than double by 2025. Meal kits provide consumers all the ingredients they need for cooking a meal, saving them the time needed for planning and preparing a fresh meal by themselves.

Growing interest in meal kits

In 2021, more than 70 percent of South Korean adults were aware of meal kits. Among women the awareness was even higher, exceeding 80 percent. The same year, the share of people who had bought such products had also increased dramatically to over 80 percent. Compared to two years earlier, that was an increase of over 48 percent in buyers.

 What kind of meals are commonly prepared using meal kits?

According to a survey in 2021, the most common type of recipe boxes tried in South Korea to prepare meals were Korean soup or stew dishes. Accordingly, it is not surprising that those dishes made up most of the meal kits available in the market, far exceeding other options. Although foreign stew and soup dishes were also popular among Korean consumers, most people still preferred to purchase meal kits for Korean cuisine.