South Korea's food delivery industry continued to grow this year, with the most prominent increase seen in fast-food delivery services, according to a Thursday report by a local data analysis firm.
The value of food delivery services came to 7.87 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in the first half of the year, according to Finda, marking a 6.55 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Fast-food delivery in particular saw a rise of 22.72 percent to come in at 1.72 trillion won for the period compared to 1.4 trillion won in the same period last year. Fast food delivery accounted for 36 percent of all food delivery in the country in sales, second only to 45.32 percent of chicken and dakgangjeong (deep-fried and braised chicken).
Chicken delivery also marked double-digit growth on-year with 10.5 percent, along with 15.51 percent growth of deliveries for baked goods. Delivery for hansik (traditional Korean food), on the other hand, dropped 2.17 percent.
"Even as the food service industry staggered due to inflation, food delivery stayed strong. Those about to start a business in food service may want to consider the data related to the proportion of delivery service for each sector," an official from Finda said.
Recent data has indicated a consistent upward trend in major Korean dishes. According to August data from the Korea Consumer Agency, which provides the average price of the eight most popular food items per region, the prices for gimbap, kalguksu and bibimbap all rose compared to the previous month while the other five remained stationary.
With the increasing cost of dining out, more consumers are opting for food delivery, which adds a delivery cost but offers in-app discounts.
The Finda data also showed that sales for food delivery in the Greater Seoul region of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province accounted for 62.7 percent of the national total. The country's most populous city Seoul logged 2.21 trillion won, followed by 2.19 trillion won for Gyeonggi and 537 billion won for Incheon.
Incheon was the fastest-growing region in terms of food delivery, with a 12.26 percent increase in sales between H1 2023 and H1 of this year. While Seoul marked the largest sales in all regions, it marked only a one percent increase during the same period.
