Nongshim Brings Metaverse Popup Store into Reality

This photo provided by Nongshim Co. shows the instant noodle maker’s popup store in eastern Seoul.

SEOUL, Jan. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean instant noodle maker Nongshim Co. is exploring ways to attract young consumers who are reducing their consumption of instant noodles, or “ramyeon” in Korean.

The company opened a Shin Ramyun cafeteria popup store in the hip district of Seongsudong in eastern Seoul on Monday.

It brought the online-based popup store operated in metaverse platform Zepeto from October last year to an offline channel.

At the popup store, visitors can cook and eat ramen after selecting the degree of spiciness and the type of noodles and flakes.

On the same day, Nongshim also released a limited edition of instant cup noodle product Shin Ramyun Zepeto.

The product was developed based on the most popular recipe in a contest that was held at the Zepeto popup store. As such, attracting young consumers is a common objective in the instant noodle industry.

According to a survey of 500 consumers conducted by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. last year, the share of those who enjoy cooking and eating ramyeon among respondents younger than 20 remained low at around 10 percent, far lower than 36.6 percent for those in their 50s or older and 26.6 percent for those in their 40s.

Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)