Seoul: The number of restaurants and companies involved in the Korean food, or hansik, business experienced a slight decline in 2024 compared to the previous year, as revealed by government data released on Monday. A total of 504,657 businesses were operating in the local market for traditional Korean food by the end of December, marking a 1.6 percent decrease from 512,979 the previous year.
According to Yonhap News Agency, restaurants serving Korean cuisine made up the majority, accounting for 91 percent of the total with 460,219 businesses. The remaining 44,438 businesses were comprised of Korean food products and drink manufacturers. Despite the decrease in the number of businesses, employee numbers in the Korean food sector saw a slight increase, totaling 1.3 million, a rise of 0.8 percent from the previous year. Within this workforce, 1.08 million individuals were employed in the restaurant sector, while 214,286 worked in manufacturing businesses.
The data further indicated a 2.1 percent decline in the number of restaurants and bars serving hansik, along with a 3.9 percent drop in sales generated from Korean menus. In contrast, the number of Korean food manufacturing businesses recorded a 3.5 percent growth, with sales from Korean food products increasing by 17.1 percent during the same period.
The report also highlighted a decrease in the perception of authenticity among Korean restaurant dishes, as the percentage of respondents who felt that Korean dishes served at restaurants closely resembled traditional Korean cuisine fell by 1.9 percentage points to 80.7 percent.