Young Consumers 1st to Stop Using Food Deliveries

Younger consumers are the first to abandon food deliveries that became so ubiquitous in lockdown and venture out again. They also object to exorbitant hiked fees extracted from a captive clientele.

The Korea Institute of Public Administration polled 2,000 people about food delivery services and found that 53 percent felt the service is too expensive. Forty-six percent said W1,000 to W2,000 per delivery would be appropriate (US$1=W1,192). But in reality delivery services now charge between W3,000 and W4,000 per order.

Instead younger consumers pick up their meals in person from restaurants. One 39-year-old office worker living in Suwon south of Seoul bought a thermal bag online for W10,000 to pick up food at restaurants for takeout and take it home piping hot.