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As the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America kicks off, the food and dining industry is ramping up marketing aimed at fan demand. Unlike the past street-cheering culture centered on late-night matches, this tournament will see many South Korean national team games held in the morning, which is expected to boost demand for watching games at home or in the office. In response, the industry is targeting the World Cup boom through a variety of approaches, from discount promotions to prize events and participatory campaigns.
Oriental Brewery's Cass is running "Cassradamus," a consumer participation event, during the World Cup. Actor Baek Hyun-jin, former short-track national team member Kwak Yoon-gy, and soccer creator Go Ale predict various scenarios related to game results, and consumers choose the predictions they want. Depending on whether the predictions hit, participants receive Cass Zero, a non-alcoholic beverage. Cass is also engaging in offline cheering culture by utilizing sports pubs and pop-up stores.
The chicken industry has also joined the World Cup marketing competition. Genesis BBQ is running discount and giveaway events centered on its own application. Through "Black Pride Day," held every Friday, it offers discounts on signature menu items, along with a promotion giving side menus to customers who order chicken. On national team game days, it plans to move up the app's operating hours to the morning to meet cheering demand.
Kyochon F&B, which operates Kyochon Chicken, has also moved to capture World Cup cheering demand. Kyochon is running the "Kyochon Signature Flavor Relay Discount" through the 28th for members of its app membership. It offers a 3,000-won discount on signature menu items such as Honey, Red, and Soy, selected by week, with stacking discounts applied per quantity when ordering multiple birds. It also prepared an event giving premium bicycles and app points to a total of 1,000 people through a drawing. Kyochon is strengthening its sports marketing, recently running a social media (SNS) cheering event under the theme "The Taste of Watching Soccer, Kyochon."
G&Food, which operates Goobne Chicken, is running the "Goobne Stamp Challenge." Customers who order above a certain amount through the order app accumulate stamps, and those who collect all the stamps receive discount coupons. The company explained that since this World Cup is centered on weekday morning games, it designed the promotion to target not only live-broadcast viewing but also demand for watching highlights after work.
In the coffee industry, Mega MGC Coffee is launching a large-scale cheering campaign fronted by Son Heung-min. It unveiled a new TV advertisement and is creating a World Cup cheering atmosphere at stores nationwide. Customers can participate in an event leaving cheering messages on the official YouTube channel, and selected phrases will be displayed on kiosks at stores nationwide. The official app offers various prizes through events using the group-order function and cheering challenges.
The industry believes this World Cup will change both cheering culture and consumption patterns due to the shift in game times. Analysts say that, moving away from the past World Cup boom centered on late-night snacks and alcohol consumption, lunchtime cheering, watching at home, and mobile participation events are establishing themselves as new consumption trends. An official in the distribution industry said, "Beyond simply watching games, experience-based marketing that lets consumers participate and enjoy together both online and offline is emerging as a key marketing strategy for the World Cup season."
