Korea’s plan to promote K-Food hit as COVID shut 300 overseas restaurants

[Image source: Korean Food Promotion Institute Twitter]

The pandemic hit overseas restaurants operated by Korean companies, with about 30 percent of them having closed over the past three years, raising concerns about the government-led “K-food” promotional campaign.

There were 72 global Korean food companies in 2019, up from only 28 in 2009. However, that number fell to 65 in 2021 and then to 63 in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. These companies saw steady growth over the last 10 years, going from 116 restaurants in 2009 to 348 restaurants in 2014, and up to 1,094 restaurants by 2019. However, that number fell to 839 in 2021, and fell even more to 783 in 2022, the lowest since 2016 when there were 732 restaurants.

Last year, Korean companies expanding overseas fell 12.5 percent and the number of outlets opened by those entities fell 28.4 percent, both compared to figures from 2019. The global trend of social distancing hit Korean food companies hard, a government official said.

The globalization of traditional Korean cuisine is one of the key goals of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. Under the government’s scheme, about 20 Korean restaurants in major cities around the world, are being selected and will be eligible to receive 20 million won ($16,064) worth of ingredients and tableware from Korea. The Korean Food Promotion Institute also provides “Korea-themed” signs and props worth up to 10 million won.

However, some have criticized such short-term government-led measures, calling for a business-led promotion of Korean food from a business perspective. The key in their argument is that Korean cuisine needs certain brand power that will enable non-Koreans to remember Korean cuisine.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry conducted an awareness survey of the Korean cuisine and business last year. According to the results published on Dec. 28, 50.7 percent of respondents said that Korean cuisine is well-rooted internationally, but only 25.7 percent positively assessed the business potential of such restaurants.

Only 20.4 percent of respondents said that the Korean restaurant businesses are doing well and 5.3 percent said that they were doing superbly. The survey shows that Korean cuisine has not made itself into a commercial industry yet, despite the global popularity of Korean cuisine.

[Image source: Korean Food Promotion Institute Twitter]

When it comes to the successful globalization of a cuisine, the cases of Japan and Thailand are usually noted. The strategy used by Japanese cuisine was to sell its raw food to the world as being “high-end.” As part of this process, contributions from the government and private organizations were quite large, particularly in terms of hygiene assurance and the promotion of culinary techniques, branding the cuisine as “clean” and “fancy.”

Thailand, on the other hand, has branded its cuisine as being down-to-earth and for the public, particularly through its “kitchen of the world” project. The Korean Food Promotion Institute feels that such branding strategies can be successful. “Korean cuisine, too, needs branding and an image for global prominence,” it said.

The government and its promotional bodies are working on strategies for traditional Korean cuisine, they say, though no details that been set.

The agriculture and food ministry plans to announce its Korean cuisine branding strategy by end of this year, after discussions with specialists from the industry, it said.

According to data compiled by a team led by Professor Choi Kyu-wan at Kyung Hee University, as an industry, Korean cuisine could generate some 23 trillion won for the domestic economy, accounting for about 16.4 percent of the local restaurant sales in 2020.