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CU's protein shakes bulk up on foreigner purchases

Published: 20 Mar. 2025, 15:57 Updated: 20 Mar. 2025, 16:56

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

A commercial model looks at Grabmeal protein shakes at a CU convenience store. [BGF RETAIL]

CU’s ready-to-drink protein shakes are all the rage among foreign customers, with sales even beating last year’s best-selling Dubai chocolate, the convenience store said Thursday. The convenience store chain will release a new sweet corn flavor of the Grabmeal protein drink on March 26 in light of its popularity.

Eighty percent of customers who purchased Renewphy’s Grabmeal protein shakes at CU’s Myeong-dong Station branch this month were foreigners, CU’s operator, BGF Retail, said in a news release.

It is almost unprecedented for convenience store items to be more popular with foreigners than with domestic consumers, BGF Retail said.

All five flavors of the protein shake ranked in among the 10 most-sold items to foreigners this year as of March 18. The best-selling chocolate-flavored drink sold 3.5 times more than Dubai Chocolate, which was the most-bought item by foreigners last year.

Over 800,000 Grabmeal protein shakes were purchased in around seven months, making it the fastest-selling meal replacement drink to reach that number.

The protein drink accounted for 56.4 percent of all meal replacement drink sales at CU from March 1 to 18.

“CU’s Grabmeal series has been introduced to [shoppers] mainly from Asian regions including Taiwan, China and Singapore as a must-have item to get from Korean convenience stores. CU will continue to consider customers’ diverse needs to find competitive products that are well received overseas,” said Park Hyeong-kyu, a merchandiser on BGF Retail’s processed foods team.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]