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Average lunch price for officer worker is 6,260

South Korean office workers are spending an average of 6,260 won (US$5.25) on their lunches this year, a new survey finds. Lunch has gotten more expensive for office workers who eat at convenience stores rather than restaurants.

A survey of 731 office workers by Job Korea, a job search website, found that the average price of lunch for office workers this year was 6,260 won, 150 won higher than the previous year (6,110 won, or US$5.12) — about a 2.5% increase year on year.

The survey found that lunch prices varied by about 2,500 won (US$2.10), depending on location and method. The most expensive lunch destination was a restaurant (7,400 won, or US$6.20), followed by a convenience store (6,210 won, or US$5.20). Cheaper options were dropping by the company cafeteria (5,530 won, or US$4.63) or bringing a sack lunch from home (4,860 won, or US4.07).

The price of convenience store lunches increased by the highest rate year on year, the survey found. Office workers who drop by convenience stores for lunch said they paid an average of 5,360 won (US$4.49) last year but 6,210 won (US$5.20) this year, representing a year-on-year increase of 15.9%. That was bigger than the corresponding increase at company cafeterias (7.0%) and restaurants (3.4%).

“This appears to be the result of the recent diversification of convenience stores’ product types and prices, including the launch of premium products,” Job Korea commented.

Seven out of 10 survey respondents (72.2%) felt that lunch was too expensive, while half (47.9%) said they’d tried cutting their lunch expenses in order to save some extra pocket money.

The general culinary choice for Korean office workers is Korean food. Excluding those who reported eating whatever was served at the company cafeteria (35.6%, multiple responses allowed), the top four meal choices were baekban, a simple meal consisting of rice, soup, and side dishes (27.6%); kimchi jjigae, or stew (20.4%), sundubu jjigae, or soft tofu stew (10.0%), and donkatsu, or pork cutlet (8.5%).

By Suh Min-jung, staff reporter

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