"What to Do, Office Workers?" 16% Hike... Low-Cost Coffee Brands Raise Prices One After Another

Amid persistent high inflation, low-cost coffee prices are rising one after another.

While the absolute increase is only a few hundred won, given that consumers view price as the most important factor when choosing low-cost coffee, price hikes exceeding 10 percent are expected to burden consumers.

Coffee franchise Mammoth Coffee announced that it will raise the price of its iced americano by 200 won starting on August 11.

By product, the small-sized iced americano will increase by 16.7 percent from 1,200 won to 1,400 won, and the medium size will rise by 12.5 percent from 1,600 won to 1,800 won.

The iced decaf americano will also see increases, with the small size rising from 1,900 won to 2,100 won and the medium size from 2,300 won to 2,500 won, both recording increases close to 10 percent.

Mammoth Coffee stated, "Despite rising raw material and ingredient costs, we have absorbed the cost pressures internally to minimize customer burden and maintain our existing prices," adding, "As global instability and general cost increases have continued, we were inevitably forced to adjust our prices."

The issue is that not only Mammoth Coffee, but other low-cost coffee franchises are also raising their prices consecutively.

Mega MGC Coffee raised the prices of three Halmega Coffee items by 200 won each last month, and The Venti increased the prices of major beverages excluding americanos by 100 to 500 won in May.

Other low-cost coffee brands such as Paik's Coffee and Banapresso have similarly recently raised prices for some items by 200 to 300 won.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency, when it surveyed 1,600 consumers early this year on the most important factor considered when using low-cost coffee, "price reasonableness" was chosen by 37.2 percent, nearly double the 19.2 percent for "coffee taste." As a result, concerns are rising that consumers might turn away as the price competitiveness that has driven the growth of low-cost coffee brands weakens.

(Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Jang Yu-jin | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)

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