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CU, a South Korean convenience store chain, joined forces with Dong Wha Pharmaceuticals Co. to develop and release two energy drinks with amino acids that help make the body healthier. The company announced its partnership with the latter for the new beverages on Tuesday, March 11.
Growing Demand for Functional Beverages
According to Pulse News, the drinks were developed in response to the increasing demand for healthier options in the country's beverage and supplements market. CU said that young customers born in the early 1980s and 2000s are especially conscious about health, so they go for energy drinks.
The convenience store chain shared that sales of functional beverages have increased in recent years. Based on the records, in 2022, their sales grew by 52.2% year-on-year and 27.3% last year. Moreover, in the first two months of this year, stats showed that the increase was 14.9%.
ET News further reported that it was confirmed that the MZ generation mainly prefers functional drinks. In CU's analysis of this year's functional beverage sales by age group, results showed that the MZ generation accounted for more than 60% of the total, with 33.6% in their 20s and 30.1% in their 30s.
New Energy Drinks
At any rate, CU plans to release more performance and energy drinks as the weather in South Korea becomes warmer and heads to springtime, when most Koreans engage in various outdoor activities. The two drinks developed by CU and Dong Wha Pharma are called the "One Bottle a Day" health drinks.
The first type is "A Bottle of Arginine a Day," which contains 1,000 mg of energy-boosting L-arginine. The other is "A Bottle of Theanine a Day," which has 250 mg of L-theanine designed to help customers reduce their stress levels.
"We are collaborating with several manufacturers to confirm the demand for various healthy drinks and expand the related lineup," BGF Retail's head of product planning, Lee Na Ra, said in a statement. "We will continue to develop drinks that anyone can drink comfortably and increase consumer satisfaction."
Photo by: PeaceSeekers/Wikimedia Commons(CC BY 4.0)
