With protein drink boom, manufacturers flex natural ingredients

Korea's protein food market is on track to reach 800 billion won ($561.4 million) this year, up from 81.3 billion won in 2018, the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation says.

Two groups are driving its growth: younger consumers in their 20s and 30s who took up exercising and started reading labels and older ones who are trying to maintain muscle.

Lee Bo-ra, an office worker aged 31, has not touched a soft drink in more than a year. She took up running and swapped sugary drinks for soy milk and other protein drinks.

"Soy milk used to taste bland, but these days there are so many flavors that picking one is part of the fun," Lee said.

Park Chi-gyu, aged 75, retired five years ago after closing his business. He consumes a protein drink and a little fruit for breakfast. He had noticed his strength slipping and wanted more protein, but meat felt heavy to digest and hard to face at every meal.

"They keep at room temperature, so I buy a case and put a week's worth in the fridge to drink cold," Park said. "Storing it and drinking it are both easy."

Behind the growth is the concept of "healthy pleasure," or the idea that looking after your health should be enjoyable and convenient, which has settled in as a mainstream habit. Protein matters for maintaining muscle, immune function and metabolism, and a drink is the least demanding way to get it.

The Covid-19 pandemic was the turning point for many younger consumers, who began exercising to build immunity and paying closer attention to what they ate. Demand from older consumers has climbed as Korea has become a super-aged society.

Local food company Orion says its Dr. You Pro protein drink sold 10 million bottles in the two years after its 2024 launch. Sales from January to April were up 35 percent from the same period last year.

The drinks have also become easier to swallow, both in consistency and in taste. Protein used to come as a powder that had to be mixed into water, which clumped and required a shaker. The products now on the market are liquid and drunk like any other beverage. Selex, one of the biggest domestic brands, comes in 15 flavors, among them peach iced tea, chocolate, coconut, strawberry chocolate, banana and mocha.

Manufacturers have been reworking their recipes around ingredients rather than additives. Maeil Dairies recently launched a soy drink under its Sangha Farm label made from top-grade seoritae, a black soybean harvested within the year, ground — hull and all — on a traditional millstone. Instead of emulsifiers and flavorings, it uses mugwort and red bean, and the company changed its production method to preserve more of the nutrients. CJ CheilJedang has added low-sugar soy drinks to its Altive line, one made with farro, an ancient wheat, and one with almonds.

The shift shows up on convenience store shelves. GS25 carried three protein drinks in 2020 and now stocks 50, its operator GS Retail said. Sales over that period rose 15-fold.

"Demand for managing your health easily, as part of daily life, has grown so much that protein drinks have overtaken banana milk in sales and become the signature convenience store drink," said Eom Yu-hyun, who heads the beverage team at GS Retail.

BY CHOI HYUN-JU [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]