"Can't Take It Anymore" Prices Keep Rising... What Are Office Workers to Do?

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

While the absolute increase is only a few hundred won, price hikes exceeding 10% are expected to weigh heavily on consumers, especially since price is considered the most crucial factor when choosing budget coffee.

Coffee franchise Mammoth Coffee announced that it will raise the price of its iced Americano by 200 won starting on the 11th of next month.

By product, the iced Americano small size will increase from 1,200 won to 1,400 won, a 16.7% hike, while the medium size will go up from 1,600 won to 1,800 won, an 12.5% increase.

The iced decaf Americano will also rise from 1,900 won to 2,100 won for the small size and from 2,300 won to 2,500 won for the medium size, both recording an increase rate close to 10%.

Mammoth Coffee stated, "Despite rising raw material and ingredient costs, we have absorbed the cost pressures internally to minimize the burden on customers and maintained our existing prices," adding, "As recent geopolitical instability and rising overall costs continue, we inevitably had to adjust our prices."

The problem is that not just Mammoth Coffee, but other budget coffee franchises are raising their prices successively.

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

Other budget coffee brands such as Paik's Coffee and Banapresso have similarly raised the prices of certain items by 200 to 300 won recently.

When the Korea Consumer Agency asked 1,600 consumers early this year about the most important factor considered when using budget coffee, 37.2% chose "price reasonableness," which is more than double the 19.2% who chose "coffee taste." Consequently, concerns are rising that consumers may turn away as the price competitiveness that has driven the growth of budget coffee brands weakens.

(Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Jang Yujin | Graphics by Yook Dohyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.