Signs for local eateries are seen in this Dec. 31, 2024, photo taken in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. (Yonhap)
Signs for local eateries are seen in this Dec. 31, 2024, photo taken in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. (Yonhap)

The cost for dining out increased by at least 3 percent for a third straight year in 2024 in South Korea, higher than the inflation of the overall consumer index, government data showed Monday.

According to Statistics Korea, the consumer price index specifically for dining out was 121.01 for 2024, up 3.1 percent from 117.38 in the previous year. It was substantially smaller than the 7.7 percent and 6 percent increase recorded in 2022 and 2023, respectively, from the previous years, but it was steeper than the 2.3 percent increase of the overall consumer price index from 2023 to 2024.

It marked the 12th straight year that the growth in the cost of eating out surpassed that of the overall consumer price index in the same period.

"Lunchflation" -- so coined as many workers eat lunch outside the home -- was witnessed in nearly all sectors, ranging from company cafeterias and restaurants to even cheaper prepackaged meals and snacks bought at convenience stores.

The price tag on meals at company cafeterias went up 6.9 percent from 2023 to 2024, marking the steepest rise since the government started to tally this particular figure in 2001. This specific category recorded an on-year increase of over 4 percent for a fourth straight year.

Prepackaged meals sold at convenience stores, touted as a cheap convenience option for busy workers, saw their price increase by 4.9 percent from 2023. Triangle gimbap, a beloved food option that essentially usurped sandwiches since being introduced in the country in the 1990s, grew 3.7 percent more expensive in 2024.

Both of the popular items have become increasingly more expensive in recent years. The price of convenience store prepackaged meals increased by 0.6 percent in 2021 and 2.1 percent in 2021, before jumping by 5.2 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively, in 2023 and 2024.

Prices for triangle gimbap did not see quite as dramatic an increase, but have also been on an upward trend -- rising 1.3 percent in 2022, 2.9 percent in 2023 and 3.7 percent last year.

Per item, the overall price of prepackaged meals -- sold at both eateries and convenience stores -- rose by 5.9 percent, followed by that of tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) at 5.8 percent, hamburgers at 5.4 percent, gimbap at 5.3 percent, kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) and chicken at 4.8 percent and naengmyeon (cold noodles) at 4.2 percent. Gimbap, kalguksu and naengmyeon are among the eight major dining options that the Korea Consumer Agency monitors the price of as a financial barometer of overall inflation for dining out in the country.

The recent price surge in dining out is tied to an overall increase in agricultural prices last year, which rose by 5.9 percent from 2023. Fruit prices jumped 16.9 percent, along with an 8.1 percent hike recorded for vegetables.

Grains grew 3.3 percent more expensive, but the price of livestock rose by 0.7 percent, a moderate increase in comparison and lower than the overall inflation in consumer prices.