[Gettyimages Bank]
At weekdays, bars and restaurants have been filled with people drinking after work. However, the scene has changed since a coronavirus epidemic hit South Korean in January. People rushed to their homes straight after work, leaving restaurants nearly empty. Deliverymen got busier due to a spike in food delivery orders.
According to BGF Retail, the operator of South Korea's convenience store chain CU, liquor sales in March rose 20 percent on-year in March. The increase is larger than the annual average sales growth rate of 9.9 percent in 2018 and 12.3 percent in 2019.
Sales of hangover-chasing products fell 22.5 percent on-year. CU attributed the drop to people returning home early.
Hangover-chasing food or products are favored by drinkers after a night of hard-drinking. A bowl of spicy beef stew used to be favored as an iconic hangover chaser. Now, a dozen kinds of drink-type hangover chasers are available at supermarkets and convenience stores.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
