The K-food concept is expanding.
According to the Korea Tourism Organization’s analysis of data on the number of foreign credit card consumption from 2018 to July 2025, food consumption has expanded beyond traditional Korean food to Koreans’ everyday foods.
According to a 2024 survey of potential tourists visiting Korea, the activity that foreigners want to do most when visiting Korea is a “restaurant tour (15.7%).”
For foreigners, food is becoming a special journey to experience culture and daily life beyond simple meals.
In the past, traditional menus such as kimchi, bulgogi, and bibimbap were representative of Korean food to foreigners, but in recent years, ramen, gimbap, and street snacks have spread online, and “Korean daily food” is receiving high attention.
According to the Korea Tourism Data Lab, the menus with the highest annual growth rate (CAGR) of card payment data were △ ice cream (35.0%), △ convenience store food (34.0%), and △ waffle croffle (25.5%).
For foreigners, hamburgers, bread, and coffee are familiar menus. This was also proven by consumption data.
From January to July this year, △ Cafe (8.9 million cases), △ bakery (3 million cases), and △ hamburger (2.3 million cases) accounted for a high proportion of payments, and growth rates from the same period last year were also in the top ranks with 29.5%, 36.2%, and 38.2%, respectively.
In Korea, it is confirmed that “Korean variations” such as limited edition, collaborative products, and local specialty toppings have provided a new experience.
Six of the top 10 brands that paid for hamburgers were domestic franchises, and global brands are also attracting foreigners by introducing exclusive menus and unique stores that can only be tasted in Korea.
Convenience stores are also evolving. Travelers perceive convenience stores as not just accessible shopping places, but as a “travel menu” where you can choose from ramen to snacks.
As a result of social analysis (January 2023 to July 2025), 40.1% of convenience store-related posts were connected to food, and the main keywords were △ ramen (14.1%), △ coffee (10.5%), △ snacks (7.0%).
In fact, from January to July 2025, the number of convenience store card payments was about 13 million, the highest among the K-food industry.
It is an ordinary daily meal for Koreans, but it is also accepted as a special meal that is difficult for foreigners to experience in their own country.
△Noodles and dumplings (55.2%) △ Gamjatang (44.0%) showed the highest growth rate compared to the same period last year as of July 2025.
As traditional snacks were also re-examined with the spread of social media, consumption of rice cakes and Korean sweets grew 76.9%.
Honey rice cake cereal, which was popular on overseas SNS, recorded more than 300,000 likes, leading to the launch of new products by domestic companies.
Lee Mi-sook, head of the tourism data strategy team at the corporation, said, “As the latest trends are shared in real-time around the world, the daily life of Koreans spreads to foreigners as new experiences, and the interaction that affects Koreans is also evident in the tourism industry.”
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