Hyundai Green Food announced Sunday that ready-to-eat meal corners accounted for 28% of total diners across its corporate cafeteria operations last year. The figure represents a nearly sevenfold increase from 4% in 2022, meaning more than one in four diners now opt for ready-to-eat options.
The company attributed the rapid growth to the spread of solo dining culture and an increasing number of office workers using lunch breaks for personal activities such as exercise and hobbies, driving demand for ready-to-eat meals with shorter wait times.
The expansion of ready-to-eat menu items has led to a broader customer base. Hyundai Green Food's in-house ready-to-eat meal lineup has grown more than twentyfold, from approximately 30 items to 650 since the launch of its Smart Food Center in 2020. Multi-pick ready-to-eat corners offering more than 10 items daily have also expanded to approximately 100 locations nationwide, representing about 15% of the company's total operating sites.
Hyundai Green Food plans to increase its ready-to-eat menu to more than 1,200 items within the next three years while strengthening trendy offerings such as poke bowls, warm bowls, and chow mein, as well as collaborations with restaurant brands. "We expect the share of diners choosing ready-to-eat options to exceed 33% by year-end," a company official said. "We will proactively respond to changing workplace dining culture."