[Today's New Product] Packed with Olives... Convenient 'Mediterranean Diet' from the Convenience Store

CU Launches Mediterranean Kitchen Series
Over 3.5 Million Units Sold from Existing “The Healthy Ready Meal” Lineup

On May 26, CU, the convenience store operated by BGF Retail, announced that it is strengthening its premium healthy ready meal offerings by launching a new health-focused lineup, the “Mediterranean Kitchen Series,” through “PBICK The Kitchen.”

At the end of February this year, CU introduced “PBICK The Kitchen,” extending its flagship PB (private brand), “PBICK,” into the ready meal category, with a strategy to realize “a properly made meal” and enhance the essential competitiveness of its ready meal products. In fact, since the launch of PBICK The Kitchen, CU’s ready meal sales have increased by 17.2% compared to the previous year.

Since 2021, CU has also launched the “The Healthy Ready Meal Series” every year, featuring low-sodium, low-sugar, and high-protein concepts. This series has surpassed a cumulative sales volume of 3.5 million units to date, demonstrating steady consumer demand for health-focused ready meals. As interest in health management has increased ahead of the full summer season, sales of salad and chicken breast products in May rose by 16.5% and 10.3%, respectively, compared to the previous month, reflecting a growing demand for healthy diet options.

CU Healthy Ready Meals Mediterranean Kitchen Series. CU

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In line with this trend, CU is introducing the new “Mediterranean Kitchen Series,” a health lineup inspired by the Mediterranean diet, which is consistently recognized as a positive eating pattern for heart health and blood sugar management. Notably, instead of using function-focused language, the product names emphasize food culture and lifestyle, highlighting the image of a healthy yet sophisticated meal.

This new series features a balanced nutritional composition based on a Mediterranean diet using plant-based ingredients such as olives and chickpeas, as well as extra virgin olive oil, with added chicken breast for protein. The lineup consists of a total of seven products, including lunch boxes, gimbap, triangle gimbap, and sandwiches.

First, on May 26, the following products will be released: “Mediterranean Olive Sausage Rice” (5,300 won), which combines rice topped with green olives and sausage with soy garlic chicken salad and roasted vegetables; “Mediterranean Olive Big Tuna Triangle” (1,900 won), featuring chickpea rice topped with olive-infused tuna mayo; “Mediterranean Olive Chicken Gimbap” (3,600 won), chicken breast flavored with olive pesto; and “Mediterranean Olive Chicken Sandwich” (3,600 won), filled with olive pesto between slices of rye bread.

On June 3, CU will also launch “Mediterranean Olive Pasta” (4,900 won), featuring tomato pasta topped with black olives and a generous salad; “Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Gimbap” (3,600 won), which wraps chicken breast with roasted zucchini, red bell pepper, and other vegetables; and “Mediterranean Basil Tomato Chicken Sandwich” (3,600 won), which pairs rye bread spread with basil mayo and filled with tomatoes.

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Kim Baegeun, Head of the Ready Meal Team at BGF Retail, stated, “Recently, more consumers are choosing ready meals not only based on cost-effectiveness but also by considering ingredients and nutritional balance. Going forward, CU will continue to raise the bar for convenience store healthy ready meals by offering health, taste, and convenience with the PBICK The Kitchen ‘Mediterranean Kitchen’ series.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.