Creators on Instagram showing their combination foods, left, is rice cakes with Buldak sauce and cheese, center and right being coffee with banana milk. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
A few years ago, foreigners discovered that Korean convenience stores stocked banana milk, ramen warmers and a thousand things you could mix together that would generate millions of views on TikTok. The chains have treated this as more than a quirk and started treating it as a business plan.
For the past several years, foreign customer transactions at Korean convenience stores have grown at triple-digit rates, driven by a steady wave of inbound tourists who treat the stores as social-media content sets, mixing viral drink combinations and filming the results for TikTok and Instagram.
"I think people find the diverse choice that exists in convenience stores is very impressive because we don't have that in Europe," said Olja Bosnjak from Croatia, who has been living in Korea for two years. "But like in Korea and Japan, there's like this aesthetic of a convenience store, like you walk in and there's like 10 options of everything. So people find it very aesthetic."
Binggrae banana milk plus a Cantata hazelnut coffee pouch is marketed online as the "Korean Frappuccino." Buldak noodles topped with sliced cheese and a hot bar sausage from the in-store warmer are microwaved at the counter and livestreamed on the spot.
Chocolate milk poured over a Fanfare ice cream cone gets passed around as a homemade chocolate sundae. Lotte's pine-flavored drink shaken with a Bongbong orange soda has been crowned by foreign visitors as "Korea's mojito."
The trend is showing up in earnings reports as much as checkout lines. According to Binggrae's business report disclosed in late April, the 2025 revenue of its U.S. subsidiary reached 97 billion won ($65.9 million), up 20.6 percent from a year earlier. Across Binggrae's four overseas subsidiaries, combined revenue came to approximately 144.6 billion won, with the United States accounting for 67 percent of the company's total overseas sales. The banana milk that tourists pour into hazelnut coffee in Hongdae has become a U.S. growth story for the Korean company that makes it.
CU's foreign payment transaction count rose 151.9 percent in 2023, 177.1 percent in 2024 and 101.2 percent in 2025, according to BGF Retail. GS25 posted comparable growth of 114 percent, 126.7 percent and 74.2 percent over the same three years. 7-Eleven foreign payments grew 75 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2026.
A banana-flavored milk stand is seen installed at a CU branch in Myeongdong in Jung District, central Seoul, on Sept. 29. The branch specializes in K-food, and the entrance features convenience store items popular with foreign tourists. [NOH YU-RIM]
The momentum has not slowed in 2026. GS25 foreign sales rose 73 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, the highest figure on record. CU foreign payments rose 54.1 percent year-on-year in January and February.
Foreigners are not buying products. They are buying experiences that happen to consume four to five items per visit instead of one. The most watched combinations on TikTok and Instagram pair familiar Korean retail products in ways Korean consumers rarely think to.
“As the desire to show and certify experiences on social media has grown stronger, combining products has become part of a broader trend of creative consumer behavior," said Lee Jun-myung, professor of consumer studies at Sangmyung University.
The pattern works because familiar Korean products feel exotic to foreign visitors. Banana milk has been a domestic staple since 1974. Cantata coffee pouches sit near the cashier of every Korean convenience store. The combination, however, is novel, and the novelty is what travels on social media.
"Pairing menus are gaining traction," said Lee Seo-jung of CU's communications team. "So some stores place small bite-sized snacks next to the coffee as companion items.”
A whipping cream dispenser operates at the CU Seongsu Dessert Park branch in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, on Feb. 12. [NO YU-RIM]
CU was the first major chain to build infrastructure around the trend. BGF Retail now provides franchisees with twelve months of monthly foreign sales data on a per-store basis through an analytics service unique to the convenience store industry.
"The report provides an in-depth analysis of when foreign tourists visit most frequently, which countries they come from, and which products they prefer, enabling stores to better tailor their merchandise and operations to tourist demand," said Lee.
Emart24 has taken its own angle on the same playbook. The chain opened Dessert Lab in Seoul Forest in March, a 94.4-square-meter (1,016-square-foot) specialty store targeting women in their teens through their thirties with curated Korean dessert lines, a wine pairing zone and an Instagram-ready terrace.
Emart24 has also pushed brand collaborations exclusive to its shelves. Lotte Wellfood reinterpreted its Fanfare chocolate milk ice cream as a snack called Fanfare Soft Snack Chocolate Milk Flavor, and added a Seolleim milkshake twist to its Lotte Sand cookie line. Both launched only at Emart24 and quickly took off with younger consumers.
The chain opened a dessert-focused specialty store called Dessert Park in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, in February, built around K-desserts designed to travel on social media. The concept's origin story is Yonsei cream bread, which sold out at CU's overseas locations and signaled broader appeal.
The cycle has become self-reinforcing. Foreign tourists discover a combination on TikTok or Instagram, walk into a Korean convenience store, buy four or five items and post the result online. The chains then analyze those baskets, identify emerging viral products and incorporate them into future merchandising and product launches.
“Foreign tourists see convenience stores as a kind of playground — a playground filled with Korean food and beverages," said Prof. Lee.
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