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'Culinary Class Wars' inspires new wave of convenience store collaborations

Published: 18 Jan. 2026, 16:29 Updated: 18 Jan. 2026, 17:04

A still from the second season of the Netflix cooking reality show ″Culinary Class Wars" (2024–), featuring chef Choi Kang-rok [NETFLIX]

Following the conclusion of the second season of Netflix’s hit cooking reality show “Culinary Class Wars” (2024–), convenience store chains in Korea have launched collaboration products to attract customers.

The success of “Culinary Class Wars” season two, which premiered late last year and concluded with its finale on Wednesday, has spurred a new wave of collaborations with celebrity chefs, according to the convenience store industry on Friday.

The show ranked No. 5 globally in the Top 10 Non-English TV Shows category for the week of Jan. 5, according to Netflix’s official viewing rankings.

Seven-Eleven, operated by Korea Seven, has teamed up with chef Hou Deok-juk — a contestant on the show and formerly of the Chinese restaurant Palsun at The Shilla Hotel — to release two Chinese-style ready-to-eat meals: the Hou Deok-juk Chili Pepper Pork Triangle Gimbap and the Hou Deok-juk Chinese Bulgogi Gimbap. Gimbap refers to seaweed rice rolls, and bulgogi is marinated beef.

The products will be available starting Wednesday.

“Consumers are strongly interested in these items because they can now enjoy dishes by celebrity chefs without the hassle of [...] reservations or long lines,” a Korea Seven spokesperson said.

A shopper looks at products with the Netflix cooking reality show ″Culinary Class Wars″ (2024–) intellectual property brand at a CU convenience store. [BGF RETAIL]

CU, operated by BGF Retail, released two dishes featured on the show — spring shrimp and vegetable porridge and mustard leaf kimchi dumplings — in collaboration with chef Kim Ho-yoon, also known as the “Kitchen Boss.”

“We developed these as convenience store products so that customers could try the popular dishes themselves,” said Kim So-hee, a merchandiser on BGF Retail’s home meal replacement team. “We’ll continue to enhance product competitiveness by swiftly creating differentiated collaborations.”

GS25, operated by GS Retail and an official Netflix partner, also began preorders on Wednesday for two cream cakes aligned with the show’s black-and-white theme: White Berry and Black Chocolate Cream.

From October 2024 to Wednesday, over 6.2 million collaboration products utilizing the “Culinary Class Wars” intellectual property (IP) were sold, according to GS Retail.

A model holds up GS25 convenience store products with the Netflix cooking reality show ″Culinary Class Wars″ (2024–) intellectual property brand. [GS RETAIL]

Collaborations from the first season have also received an enthusiastic response. BGF Retail said its ready-to-eat meal series, co-developed with chef Lee Mi-young, surpassed 7 million units in cumulative sales as of Wednesday.

Seven-Eleven reported nearly 5 million units sold of its eight season-one collaboration products during the same period. CU currently has 49 different products tied to the “Culinary Class Wars” brand, including the two new season-two items.

These collaborations are also boosting overall category sales.

The ″Choi Kang-rok Neo White″ product affiliated with the Netflix cooking reality show ″Culinary Class Wars″ (2024–) intellectual property brand is seen at a Seven-Eleven convenience store. [KOREA SEVEN]

“At GS25, products like the Jang Ho-jun Pollack Potato Salad and Edward Lee BBQ Short Rib and Hamburger Steak Bento — created with the ‘Culinary Class Wars IP’ — have driven up sales across the entire ready-to-eat meal category,” said a GS Retail representative, noting a 17 percent on-year increase in refrigerated ready-to-eat dish sales between October 2024 and September 2025.

BGF Retail stated that its Night Tiramisu Cup, developed with chef Kwon Sung-jun, nicknamed “Napoli Matfia,” sold out within 20 minutes every day — with 10,000 to 20,000 units available per day — and has generated around 12 billion won ($8.15 million) in total sales.

“Following the launch of the Night Tiramisu Cup and related baked goods, CU’s dessert sales in November and December 2024 rose by about 20 percent compared to the previous year,” the company added.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NOH YU-RIM [[email protected]]