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Table for one: Korean workers choosing solo prepackaged takeout meals over team lunches

Published: 24 Feb. 2026, 15:52

Employees line up to grab Hyundai Green Food's ready-to-eat meals. [HYUNDAI GREEN FOOD]

Lunch at a Korean company used to mean sitting down in a loud cafeteria hall between 12 and 1 p.m. with your teammates. Now, people are ditching the group for a more time-efficient and budget-friendly prepackaged ready-to-eat meal.

One example is office worker Ryu Chae-young, who buys a ready-to-eat salads at the company cafeteria two to three times a week — getting a portion comparable to store-bought salads at about half the price to offset the bite of lunch inflation. Employee cafeterias typically offer both takeout and dine in options.

“I’ve been going to the company cafeteria more often because food prices have become burdensome, and ready-to-eat items like salads are affordable,” Ryu said. “The portions are larger than convenience store meals and I can eat them whenever.”

The perks of cafeteria takeout don't just stop at the money saved. The flexibility of dining hours has also driven growing demand among office workers, meaning that they don't have to spend 30 minutes every day queuing up outside restaurants during busy lunch hours.

Almost 28 percent of all meals served at group cafeterias last year were prepacked ready-to-eat meals — the highest level on record, according to Hyundai Green Food. Roughly one in four diners chose ready-to-eat items at cafeterias, a sevenfold increase from about four percent in 2022.

“The normalization of honbab (solo dining) culture and prolonged inflation have prompted this newfound popularity,” said a source at Hyundai Green Food. “We started to operate a Smart Food Center, a specialized food production facility, in 2020 to keep up with the demand. Prior to its operation, the company offered about 30 ready-to-eat items, but that lineup has since exploded to about 650 .”

Restaurant menus are displayed along a street in Myeong-dong, Jung District in central Seoul on Dec. 8, 2024. [YONHAP]

Ourhome, a Korean food company specializing in catering services, also saw company cafeteria ready-to-eat sales jump 387 percent last year from 2022 levels. With the average lunch price in major Seoul business districts reaching 12,000 won ($8.30), cafeteria menus featuring items in the 6,000 to 8,000 won range stand out as go-to choices for employees who prioritize time and cost efficiency, a person from Ourhome stated.

Meanwhile, prices for dining out continue to climb. The average price for a bowl of samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) in Seoul reached 18,154 won last month — a 5.1 percent increase from last year — while kalguksu (noodle soup) rose 4.9 percent to 9,923 won, according to the data from the Korea Consumer Agency’s price information portal.

Catering companies are boosting the proportion of price-efficient prepackaged products in cafeterias. CJ Freshway reported that the share of ready-to-eat items in its group catering sales rose seven percent in the past three years. The number of ready-to-eat menus also grew from 2,728 to 6,481 during the same period. “We are expanding our takeout-focused ready-to-eat store, Snackpick to keep up with the demand from budget cautious office workers.” a CJ Freshway source explained.

Large discount stores are also strengthening their ready-to-eat offerings for office workers, particularly in deli sections. Emart's sandwich sales rose about 80 percent over the Jan. 1 to Feb. 22 period compared to the same dates last year, while salad sales increased about 17 percent over that time.

Customers reach for CJ Freshway's ready-to-eat takeout meals at a SNACKPICK store. [CJ FRESHWAY]

Lotte Mart expanded its ready-to-eat deli lineup from about 150 items in 2022 to 220 last year. Since 2024, the retailer has been selling small-portioned deli items tailored to office workers, under their private label, “Yorihada World Buffet.”

“Sales of 'Yorihada World Buffet' rose about 30 percent in the second half of last year compared to the year before,” a Lotte Mart source stated. “We plan to attract value-seeking customers by offering ready-to-eat meals at prices of 3,990 won and 4,990 won.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NOH YU-RIM [[email protected]]