[Edaily Reporter Han Jeon-jin] The convenience store industry is teaming up with the popular drama "The Legend of the Cook" to launch a series of collaborative products. By recreating the show’s trending menu items as actual ready-to-eat meals, companies are entering a race to develop products leveraging the drama’s intellectual property (IP).

According to industry sources on the 16th, CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, and Emart 24 recently collaborated with #CJ CheilJedang to launch ready-to-eat products based on

"Become a Legendary Cook" is a military cooking drama featuring an army cook as the main character. It has garnered attention for its food styling and cooking scenes and has maintained high popularity since its release.

CU introduced the "Cook’s Old-Fashioned Burger" and "Cook’s Gochujang Ragu Pasta," inspired by the "Military Burger" featured in the drama. The burger, inspired by the Military Burger, features apple jam and caramelized onions, while the Gochujang Ragu Pasta combines tomato sauce and pork ragu with Korean-style gochujang.

GS25 drew inspiration from the tonkatsu and wild vegetable bibimbap episodes in the drama. They launched “The Cook’s Heartfelt Tonkatsu” and “The Cook’s Wild Vegetable Bulgogi Bibimbap,” recreating the show’s menus as convenient meals. Notably, the bibimbap features “Matdasi Gochujang,” which evokes memories of military life.

7-Eleven has released the "Authentic Soy-Braised Chicken Bento," based on the soy-braised chicken dish featured by the main character. The bento features soy-braised chicken with black bean paste and glass noodles, accompanied by stir-fried sausage and fish cake, stir-fried kimchi, and fried dumplings.

Emart 24 has released the “Legendary Honey Combination” lunch box, featuring “Persimmon Tteokbokki,” a menu item that became a hot topic in the drama. The meal consists of tteokbokki made with persimmon puree as the main dish, accompanied by tuna mayo rice bowl, seaweed rolls, fried dumplings, and donggurangddeong.

The convenience store industry has recently been expanding its lineup of products utilizing content IPs. This is because consumers are no longer content with simply watching content; there is a growing demand to directly experience the food and products featured in the works.

In fact, CU’s “Peace Minus One Highball,” launched using the IP of G-Dragon’s fashion brand “Peace Minus One,” has surpassed 10 million cans in cumulative sales. GS25 has introduced collaboration products based on “Squid Game” and “The Black and White Chef,” while 7-Eleven is expanding its lineup of products based on character and webtoon IPs.

An industry insider stated, “As the way people experience content expands from viewing to consumption, interest in IP collaboration products is also growing,” adding, “Competition among convenience store chains for content collaborations is expected to become even more intense in the future.”