It is the most labor-intensive item on the menu, and it leaves almost nothing behind. Snack bar owners in Seoul are taking gimbap off their menus.
The average price of a roll of gimbap in Seoul was 3,838 won in June, up 5.9% from a year earlier, according to the Korea Consumer Agency's price information portal, Cham Ggagyeok ("True Price"). The increase was the steepest among the eight major dining-out items the agency tracks, outpacing pork belly (4.3%), kalguksu noodles (3.6%), cold noodles (2.8%), bibimbap (2.7%), jajangmyeon (2.1%) and kimchi stew (1.8%).
Gimbap prices in Seoul have jumped 40.5% in five years, from 2,731 won in June 2021 to 3,838 won. The pace quickened in July, when prices rose 4.5%, up from 4.2% in June.
Rice Up 13%, Eggs 9% as Ingredient Costs Climb Beyond Reach
Soaring ingredient costs are the main blow. Rice prices rose 13.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the consumer price index compiled by Statistics Korea. Eggs climbed 9.0% and dried seaweed 2.5%. At large discount chains, a tray of 30 eggs approaches 10,000 won, a kilogram of carrots costs 4,500 won and 200 grams of spinach runs 6,500 won.
The cost of a gimbap ingredient set has nearly doubled, to between 10,000 and 15,000 won from 6,000 to 7,000 won a year earlier. Added to that is the burden of higher labor costs following minimum wage increases. Because a single roll requires preparing dozens of ingredients and rolling each one by hand, the pressure from labor costs is far greater than for other menu items.
More snack bars are failing to hold on. The number of snack bars in Seoul stood at 9,448 in the first quarter, down 287, or 2.9%, from a year earlier, according to the Seoul city government's commercial district analysis service. The decline has continued every quarter since the figure peaked at 9,989 in the second quarter of 2024.
Those still in business are coping by dropping gimbap altogether or cutting the number of varieties. Covering ingredient and labor costs would require charging more than 5,000 won a roll, but owners cannot raise prices for fear of losing customers — a dilemma that keeps repeating. With high inflation expected to persist, analysts say upward pressure on the price of gimbap, long a byword for an affordable meal, is unlikely to ease soon.