Ready-to-cook (RTC) food products that contain pre-measured and prepared ingredients, sauces, and recipes are called "meal kits" or "cooking boxes". Between 2017 and 2019, the meal kit market and companies in South Korea grew rapidly. Their growth did not stop even during the COVID-19 pandemic period from 2020 to early 2023. The trend of consumers cooking at home has continued into the endemic period. However, the meal kit market is no longer dominated by certain companies. It has become an open marketplace for anyone with a new and delicious recipe. Popular restaurants, hotels, and department stores with well-known restaurants and chefs with their own recipes have begun to compete in various ways. Some food tech companies have evolved into new meal kit concepts, such as frozen and freeze-dried meals, and have shifted to targeting overseas markets.
 

FarmJoA Co., Ltd. of Iksan, North Jeolla Province, recently exported frozen vegetables and "meal kits" to the U.S. following exports to Hong Kong and Australia, worth USD 800,000, USD 400,000, and USD 300,000, respectively. This was based on the company's patented Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) technology. The company entered the meal kit market with its experience as a leading company in the domestic frozen vegetable market, after establishing an IQF food production factory in 2016. The company has supplied Lotte Mart, E-mart, Market Kurly, Coupang, Samsung Welstory, Pulmuone, Harim, and others. Sallycook realized that eating right helps cancer patients and the elderly get through difficult treatments.  They produce and deliver healthy, therapeutic meal kits from their data-driven smart farms to provide balanced nutrition to those with compromised immune systems. They introduced a new concept of freeze-dried meal kits that can be stored at room temperature for cancer patients and the elderly and began to enter the U.S. market.

A popular Vietnamese pho restaurant in Itaewon, Seoul, survived the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 by turning its product into a meal kit. After about six months of preparation, the restaurant introduced a pho meal kit, which involves freezing their broth, on a media platform. They received orders for 2,600 servings in the first month and 3,000 servings the following month. Launching the rice noodle meal kit, which takes about six months to prepare and involves freezing the broth, on media platforms had a big impact. They received orders for 2,600 servings in the first month and 3,000 servings the following month. Fresheasy, the country's No. 1 meal kit specialist, is focused on a business which supports the entire process from planning to selling the meal kit products of its affiliates. One of its most representative successes is the "Park Mak Rye Bibim Noodles". More than 20,000 units prepared for a live broadcast sold out in just one minute. The domestic meal kit market, which has been limited to large food companies and specialized startups leading the way, has now entered a period of content competition in which almost everyone can participate, regardless of production, supply and product type.

Fresheasy, CJ CheilJedang, Korean Yakult (It's On), Dongwon Home Food (Mom's Kit), GS Retail (Simply Cook) and Lotte Mart (Cook) were among the early movers. Large retailers such as Hyundai Department Store (Chef Box) and Galleria Department Store (Gourmet 494) followed suit, and convenience stores such as E-mart, GS25 and Lotte Mart also joined the competition. In the hotel industry, Lotte Hotel released "Lotte Hotel 1979," a meal kit featuring recipes from the hotel's restaurant. Chosun Hotel launched meal kits featuring recipes from Korean, Chinese, and Japanese chefs. Hotel Shilla released a "Premium Tteokgalbi Meal Kit". Samsung Electronics is also indirectly involved in the meal kit industry. They released the Bespoke Cooker, a cooking appliance that combines a microwave, air fryer and grill, all necessary for cooking meal kits, and introduced three exclusive meal kits, 'Shilla Dining At Home'. They are also developing exclusive meal kit menus with Fresheasy, Ottogi, Tastynine, Hotel Shilla, and CJ CheilJedang.