Americano Tops Chuseok Rest Stop Sales List... "Not Walnut Pastries or Ramen"

Americano has held the top position for four consecutive years in both sales volume and revenue at highway rest stops during the Chuseok holiday period, reflecting the travel patterns of the Korean people during major holidays. The demand stems from efforts to combat fatigue during long drives, but as the aftermath of high inflation has pushed up food prices at rest stops, returning home for the holidays has become increasingly burdensome on visitors' wallets.

According to data submitted to Rep. Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, from Korea Expressway Corporation on the 28th, the single most sold item at national highway rest stops during the five days surrounding last year's Chuseok holiday was americano with 877,000 units. The cumulative sales reached 4.18 billion won.

Americano has maintained its position as the top-selling item by both volume and revenue for four consecutive Chuseok holidays since 2021. This demonstrates that rest stop consumption trends have shifted from traditional 'snacks' like walnut pastries and udon to 'functional beverages' focused on alleviating fatigue during long-distance driving and traffic congestion.

Following americano, snacks ranked second with 686,000 units sold, ramen with 648,000 units, and walnut pastries with 529,000 units. By revenue, tonkatsu, a meal item, took second place with 2.78 billion won, followed by udon (2.71 billion won), walnut pastries (2.66 billion won), and ramen (2.14 billion won).

The problem is that rising food prices in the restaurant industry have directly hit highway rest stops, increasing the burden of holiday travel meal expenses.

As of August this year, the average price of tonkatsu at rest stops stood at 11,454 won, up 27.5% from August 2021 (8,984 won), recording the highest increase rate among surveyed items. Bibimbap also rose from 8,504 won during the same period to 10,068 won, a 18.4% increase, with average prices surpassing the 10,000 won mark.

Major snack items show similar trends. Walnut pastries, a representative food, rose from 4,391 won to 5,420 won, a 23.4% increase, while the average unit price of americano also increased from 4,066 won to 4,845 won, a 19.2% rise. In contrast, ramen, a representative common people's food, saw only a 7.0% increase over five years, showing a relatively smaller rate of increase.

Rep. Hwang Hee pointed out, "Highway rest stops during holiday periods are more than simple rest areas—they are special commercial zones where massive consumption is concentrated. To substantially reduce the burden of holiday travel on ordinary citizens, urgent policy review is needed regarding rational price formation processes and quality management for rest stop food items."