Lotte Mart's food-centric model hits Indonesia as K-food phenomenon grows

Lotte Mart's Indonesian branch at Gandaria City mall in Jakarta reopened on Jan. 25. [LOTTE MART]

Lotte Mart is taking its food-centric supermarket model to Indonesia on the back of the growing popularity of K-food.

The discount supermarket chain reopened its Gandaria City branch in Jakarta after a three-month renovation on Jan. 25, with food products and groceries taking center stage.

With the renewal, food products now take up 80 percent of the supermarket in terms of floor area, compared to the previous 20 percent, said Lotte Mart.

The renewed Gandaria City Mall branch features Lotte Mart’s Yorihada Kitchen, an open-kitchen food store that prepares and sells Korean dishes like gimbap, tteokbokki and bulgogi, as well as its in-house bakery and pizza brands.

The food-focused approach follows Lotte Mart’s recent renovation of its Eunpyeong branch in northern Seoul and rebranded it as Grand Grocery. Unlike regular discount marts that sell other items like household necessities and clothes, food products take up nearly 90 percent at Grand Grocery, according to Lotte Mart.

Lotte Mart made a foray into the Indonesian market in 2008, as the first Korean retailer to enter the Southeast Asian market. The supermarket franchise currently runs 36 wholesale marts and 12 retail stores, similar to discount marts in Korea.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]