Pulmuone Food & Culture reports 8.5% growth in contract catering sales in H1

Pulmuone Food & Culture, the food service arm of Pulmuone, said Thursday that its contract catering and concession sales grew 8.5 percent and 21.8 percent, respectively, in the first half of this year compared with the same period a year earlier.

The company secured 39 new outlets in the first half, including 34 in contract catering, and now serves an average of 265,000 meals a day. Recent wins include the Kakao Pangyo Agit workplace and Raemian Blestidge, marking its entry into the premium breakfast apartment service market in the Gangnam area.

In military catering, the company operates 14 sites nationwide across the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and recently won a contract with the Army Infantry School. It also received the top award from the Air Force's 3rd Training Flying Wing and an excellence award from the Army 39th Division recruit training battalion.

The concession business expanded on the back of a recovery in overseas travel demand. Visitor numbers at the Incheon International Airport Sky Hub Lounge rose 47.9 percent year on year, driving overall performance. The company also added golf course food and beverage contracts, including at Seoul Hanyang Country Club, and secured operating rights for a new lounge at Gimpo Airport, set to open in September.

The company is also accelerating AI-driven operational innovation, having introduced a personalized mobile platform called "Wonderful," an AI meal-count forecasting system and an AI-based customer review analysis system called AIRS. It has also earned consumer-centered management certification for the seventh consecutive time.

In the second half, the company plans to target Korean corporate clients in North America. Domestically, it intends to launch a new restaurant brand specializing in kalguksu noodle dishes in September.

"We are expanding the capabilities built through contract catering into diverse areas — military catering, airports, concessions, rest stops and dining — to deliver differentiated value," said Lee Dong-hoon, chief executive of Pulmuone Food & Culture. "We will continue to pursue sustainable growth grounded in AI-based operational innovation and a healthy food culture."