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Dining out takes bigger bite out of wallet with 4% hike for favorites

Published: 16 Dec. 2024, 18:52 Updated: 16 Dec. 2024, 22:31

KIM JU-YEON
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A pedestrian walks by a Chinese restaurant with a picture of jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles) in Seoul on Nov. 12. Jjajangmyeon prices rose by 5 percent in November compared to January of this year, according to the Korea Consumer Agency. [NEWS1]

The Korean public’s favorite meals in restaurants became around 4 percent more expensive this year. Price hikes were notable for gimbap (seaweed rice rolls) due to increased seaweed costs, while earlier in the year, fried chicken spots raised their prices by an average of 5.2 percent.

The price of eight popular restaurant items rose by 4 percent on average in Seoul, according to data collected by Statistics Korea and compiled and published by the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) on Sunday.

The KCA keeps a monthly tally of the costs of eating out for meals that are commonly consumed by the public including samgyeopsal (pork belly), jjajangmyeon (Korean-Chinese black bean noodles) and kimchi stew.

Gimbap prices rose the most out of the eight items, by 5.3 percent on year. A roll of gimbap averaged 3,323 won ($2.30) in January this year and rose to 3,500 won in November. A bowl of jjajangmyeon and bibimbap became 5 percent more expensive over the same period.

Naengmyeon (cold noodles), kalguksu (knife-cut noodles in broth) and a 200-gram (7-ounce) portion of samgyeopsal rose 4.7 percent, 3.8 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. The average cost of a serving of the fatty pork belly cut in Seoul first entered the 20,000 won range in May.

The average rise in costs is higher than Korea’s consumer inflation rate, estimated by the Korea Development Institute at 2.3 percent for 2024.

In the first quarter of this year, fried chicken prices were the second-largest contributor after company canteens to the higher cost of eating out, according to data compiled by the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations in June. Major fried chicken franchises like Kyochon, BBQ and BHC raised their prices by an average of 12.6 percent over the last three years, the agency said. The top 10 contributors included gimbap, hamburgers and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), all of which increased by at least 5.2 percent compared to last year’s first quarter.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]