The data showed that grilled rib restaurant seems to be popular regardless of the season. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEJONG, Jun. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — A speculated increase in Koreans eating out due to income increases and shrinking families is being confirmed following the analysis of data collected during recent research programs.
According to a report published by the Hyundai Research Institute in February, the average expenditure per month on eating out among middle income families in Korea jumped to 320,000 won (US$ 287) in 2013 from 280,000 won (US$ 251) in 2010.
Spending among high income families increased to 470,000 won (US$ 421) from 436,000 won (US$ 391).
A big data research on urban gas usage tells a similar story. According to SK E&S, which owns eight gas distributing companies in the nation, sales of gas for home usage decreased 3.4 percent to 67.0 million GJ in 2014 from 69.4 million GJ in 2012.
However, the amount of gas consumed in 2014 by the 300 restaurants that consumed the most gas in the nation increased 40.2 percent to 1,716 GJ in 2014 from 1,224 GJ in 2012.
Among the 300 highest gas-consuming restaurants in 2014, grilled rib and naengmyeon (cold noodle) restaurants were the most numerous at 47, while 33 ‘pork and rice soup’ restaurants, 32 family restaurants, 32 seolleongtang restaurants and 21 Chinese restaurants made up the rest of the list.
However, the monthly average usage of gas among food courts in department stores and shopping malls in 2014 decreased 32.3 percent compared to 2012, while the monthly average spending among other restaurants listed above increased 307 percent from 29.5 percent.
The data also showed that grilled rib and naengmyeon restaurants seem to be popular regardless of the season, as customers can look for cold noodles in summer and grilled ribs in colder seasons.
Grilled rib and naengmyeon restaurants ranked first in the summer and second in the winter in terms of the monthly average gas usage, while sea food buffet restaurants ranked second in the summer and family restaurants ranked first in the winter.
By M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
