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Fancy coffee, early-bird produce, and 'Culinary Class Wars' at Market Kurly's food festival

Published: 19 Dec. 2024, 17:31 Updated: 19 Dec. 2024, 19:21

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

E-commerce platform Market Kurly is holding its annual food trade show at the Coex Magok Le West exhibition center in western Seoul from Dec.19 through Dec.22. [MARKET KURLY]

Jeong Mi-so doesn't shop at grocery stores. She doesn't order produce from Coupang either, or SSG.com, or most of Korea's myriad of popular grocery platforms. She buys her fresh goods from one place: Market Kurly, for its unmatched early-morning delivery service that reliably deposits ingredients at her doorstep before the day kicks off.

So Jeong was right at home at the online app's annual food festival at the Coex Magok Le West exhibition center in western Seoul, where buyers and sellers alike gathered to celebrate the e-commerce platform's early morning produce deliveries and ready-to-cook meal kits and more in physical form, for once. A whiff of spice and grease had been apparent, even from outside the venue.

The mid-30s woman was standing at an area designated for visitors to eat their food. The smells of bulgogi and fish cakes in hot stock overpowered in some spots as chefs rapidly cooked and dished out portions to the waiting crowd. Visitors patiently waited at booths for their turn to sample and review the mouthfuls.

Visitors at Market Kurl's Food Festa wait to try fish cakes at Goraesa Eomuk's booth. [KIM JU-YEON]

Jeong had spent the morning sampling the products of smaller brands that she'd never had a chance to order on Market Kurly's app. The annual festival brings the online marketplace to life with hundreds of sellers — including 230 food and beverage (F&B) brands and 128 other companies, this year — showcasing ready-to-eat meals, fresh produce, desserts, drinks and health functional foods in physical booths, as well as event zones themed around baked goods, delicatessen, cooking oil and fruit and vegetables, across the sprawling space.

“It's definitely worth the price,” said Jeong, a first-time attendee who had purchased an early bird ticket on Market Kurly's app, while sipping a sample of colorful fruit punch from a glass bottle.

Market Kurly opened its food festival on Thursday, and it runs through Sunday. The venue is modeled after a holiday market under the slogan “Merry Kurlysmas for All.” A giant Christmas tree is set up in the middle of the show floor, with holly and pine wreaths dotting the booths and carols ringing above the crowd.

Market Kurly expects more than 30,000 visitors to attend this year, twice the size of last year's crowd. The roster of participating brands has doubled as well.

A cutout board of celebrity chef Choi Hyun-seok is set up in front of Fresheasy's booth at Market Kurly's Food Festa. [KIM JU-YEON]

Companies like CJ CheilJedang and nut brand HBAF are showcasing their newest products at the venue for the first time. Saturday's attendees will be able to see Choi Hyun-seok and Song Haseulram, of hit Netflix show “Culinary Class Wars,” cooking live at the booths of partnered companies.

A notable attraction of the show floor was the enormous booth of premium chain Blue Bottle Coffee, which held its first-ever pop-up with Market Kurly at last year's festival. Blue Bottle, like fellow high-end brand Intelligensia Coffee, made its first online venture into Korea through the platform. A long line snaked around the coffee brand's booth to try their canned cold brew and receive instant coffee granule samples.

“Market Kurly’s primary customer base is people in their 40s and 50s with high purchasing power. These people are typically in the work force — they’re short on time and busy, want quality products and also buy the same things again, with a repurchasing rate of around 80 percent. That’s why these premium brands try to enter the Korean online market through the platform,” a spokesperson for Market Kurly said.

For smaller brands like plant-based company Malgeunmule, which works mainly in the business-to-business realm, the event was an opportunity to receive direct feedback from customers — who might also get a chance to see products not available on Market Kurly at the show.

“Being a partner of Market Kurly indicates to the customers that it’s a certified and trusted brand,” Malgeunmule’s marketing head, Lee Cheol-hee, told the Korea JoongAng Daily in front of the company's booth. “So it makes our products more competitive.”

Food and beverage company Ottogi's booth at Market Kurly's Food Festa [KIM JU-YEON]

The Food Festa will continue online on Market Kurly with around 190 brands holding promotional events.

“Thanks to our customers’ enthusiastic support we have opened the second Kurly Food Festa,” said Market Kurly Chief Officer Choi Jae-hoon. “We prepared the event so that customers can discover their preferences offline.”

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]