Popular Items in Korean Convenience Store
Come Meet Me at the Convenience Store
Convenience stores are a must-visit when traveling in Korea. It is a perfect place to understand the K-food culture and its trend. There are even international creators that review new releases and popular products at Korean convenience stores, showing that Korean convenience store products are grabbing attention of the global market. From lunch boxes for an easy-to-eat meals at the office to highball beverages for alcohol lovers who are always looking for new flavors, here are some brand products by CU and GS25, two major Korean convenience store brands.
Easy-to-Have But Hearty Meal ‘Lunch Box’
① CU Baek Jong-won Triple Special Menu
3 Types of Meat-Based Side Dishes
The most popular lunch box at CU is “Baek Jong-won’s Lunch Box,” developed by Mr. Baek Jong-won who is a famous restaurant entrepreneur, food researcher, and food-related TV personnel. The lunch box comes with White Steamed Rice, Soy Sauce Bulgogi, Spicy Bulgogi, Mala Chicken, Chili Crab Stick Stir-fry, and Fried Kimchi, offering a generous amount of 3 types of meat side dishes. Soy Sauce Bulgogi is a variation of traditional Bulgogi, featuring pork stir-fried in a deep soy sauce for a subtle sweet and richly savory flavor. Spicy Bulgogi is a type of Spicy Stir-fried Pork with onion and kimchi that harmonizes crunchy vegetables and soft meat. Mala Chicken, a boneless fried chicken in subtle mala glaze offers spicy taste and moist texture.
② GS25 Hyeja’s Home Cooked Grilled Marinated Beef
& Deep-Fried and Braised Chicken
The most popular lunch box product at GS25 is Lunch Box by Kim Hye-ja, a Korean actress. Kim Hye-ja’s lunch box comes with a variety of side dishes in generous portions, instantly creating a new word “Hyeja-like (generous portion and reasonable price)” upon its launch. Hyeja’s Home Cooked Grilled Marinated Beef & Deep-fried and Braised Chicken is a lunch box product that comes with rice, Grilled Marinated Beef, Deep-fried and Braised Chicken, fried egg, Stir-fried Fish Cake, Spinach Salad, Kimchi, and Laver. Like the catchphrase that says it’s like a mother’s home-cooked meal, it presents the classic home-style side dishes. Grilled Marinated Beef is a traditional royal court food that is made with thinly sliced and marinated beef with cuts, it goes well with rice thanks to its savory taste. On top of the spicy Deep-fried and Braised Chicken is parsley powder and peanut powder for added flavors.
'Convenience Store Pastry' that’s Better than Ones in a Bakery
① CU Yonsei Cream Milk Bread
Yeonsei Cream Milk Bread comes in three flavors; milk, red bean paste, and chocolate. This pastry-type bread created in collaboration of CU and Yonsei Milk is so popular that its sales take more than half of CU’s entire dessert sales. Yonsei Cream Milk Bread's strength lies in its chewy yet moist texture with more than 80% of its weight coming from the milky cream packed inside of the bun. Its fame soared when people began to post ‘half-cut shots’ of the bread, showing the cream-packed inside, as they are enchanted by the nutty and sweet cream filling. They are hand-made, not machine-made, so only a certain amount can be made a day. This scarcity once caused consumers to go for open-runs (lining up in front of stores before opening hours to get certain products).
② GS25 Hyeja’s Mammoth Bread Injeolmi
Hyeja’s Mammoth Bread, like in its name “mammoth,” comes in a huge size. Mammoth Breads are a sweet pastry type of bread that has cream and jam between two large Korean Streusel Buns. It’s been a favorite to Korean people at old-style bakeries for a long time, before the emergence of large franchise bakeries. Hyeja’s Mammoth Bread Injeolmi has sweet bean powder-covered Korean Streusel Buns outside with Bean-powder cream and chewy rice cake as well as strawberry jam and sweet red bean paste on the inside. Korean Streusel Buns and bean-power are nutty, and Bean-powder cream, strawberry jam, and red bean paste offer refreshingly sweet flavors. Chewy rice cakes in Bean-powder cream add unique texture to the pastry. Hyeja’s Mammoth Bread was also ranked at no.1 in the sales of GS25's bakery section.
Halmaenials’ dessert, ‘Yakgwa Cookie’
① CU My Neighbor TongTongE Yakgwa Cookie
Yakgwa (Korean traditional honey cookie) Cookies are the most representative dessert of the “Halmaenials (a compound word made by combining the Korean word “halmae,” which means “granny,” and “millennial”),” for millennials that love old-style desserts. It shed its former perception of being an “old people’s snack” and transformed into Millennials and Generation Z’s favorite. With the craze for Yakgwa Cookie, CU launched My Neighbor TongTongE Yakgwa Cookie in original, brownie, and yellow cheese flavors. A traditional Yakgwa Cookie is set on a large cookie, offering you the flavor of Yakgwa and cookie in a single bite. The chewy texture of Yakgwa and crunchy texture of cookies meet to create a wonderful charm.
② GS25 Lucky Yakgwa
GS25 established The Yakgwa Cookie Research Center to create better Yakgwa Cookies, and launched Lucky Yakgwa series. Lucky Yakgwa Butter Bar, Lucky Yakgwa Honey Bar, Lucky Yakgwa Cream Cheese Cookie, Lucky Yakgwa Financier, and more are offered at GS25 and is amazingly popular, selling 1.5 million products in just 2 months after the initial launch. In particular, Lucky Yakgwa Cream Cheese Cookie mix cream cheese with Yakgwa, getting positive responses from consumers. Yakgwa continue to evolve by getting fused with diverse desserts.
Witty Design and Concept for a Can of Entertaining ‘beer’
① CU Gompyo Wheat Beer
Gompyo Wheat Beer, a collaboration work of CU and Daehan Flour, made headlines in Korean news by putting the signature color and design of Gompyo Flour that has more than 70 years of history. The design shows a polar bear holding a bunch of wheats in one hand and a cup of beer on the other, drinking it. Like its copyright “Sweet and Wheaty!” it presents its identity as a wheat beer. The golden color and rich foam, nutty wheat flavor and sweet fruity flavor of peach reminds you of a cross between wheat beer and an ale.
② GS25 Kaltoegeun Pilsuner
All Office Workers to Leave Work on the Dot
Kaltoegeun Pilsuner, a funny name that means “leave-on-time pilsuner,” is a pilsner beer that cheers office workers to leave their work on the dot. The can shows an office worker that cries out “Kaltoe (leaving work as soon as the clock hits 6 o’clock).” It goes without saying that the term ‘Pilsuner’ is intended to carry dual meanings: the first being ‘pilsner’ a type of beer, and the second, a play on words with ‘pilsu’ in Korean, meaning ‘getting off work on 6 sharp is essential.’ The design is a wishful hope for all office workers to leave their work on time after a long day and finish their days with a can of cold beer. Kaltoegeun Pilsuner made with 100% German malt and hops is a Czech-style pilsner. The nutty and bitter-sweet hop flavor and rich fragrance will charm your palate. With an alcohol content lower to 4.7%, it can be paired with many food with less worry about get drunk.
Create Cocktail to Your Taste 'Highball'
CU Andong Soju Highball
Andong Highball is a product that combines Andong Soju, Korea’s traditional distilled liquor produced in Andong region, with highball. By mixing Andong Soju, a 45% alcohol dosage, with highball, the drink transforms into a mild 9.3% alcohol content while offering the flavors of Korean traditional liquor. With added chrysanthemum and ginger flavors, it presents a luxury taste and fragrance to your palate.
More info
- 1330 Korea Travel Helpline: +82-2-1330
- 1330 Text Chat: url.kr/PBeNi2
- (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian)
