1 in 4 Restaurants' Trusted Food Supply Market

Shikbom, an open marketplace for food ingredients for restaurant businesses, is showing remarkable growth, surpassing 200,000 cumulative members. This means that 25% of the approximately 800,000 restaurants nationwide are using Shikbom as their primary source for food ingredient purchases. From 160,000 members in December last year, it attracted 40,000 new members in just four months, drawing a steep upward curve. Behind this rapid growth lies the practical need of restaurant owners struggling with cost reduction due to economic recession, rising food ingredient prices, and the burden of delivery fees. The reasonable prices and convenience offered by Shikbom have become an attractive alternative for businesses during these challenging times. Shikbom cited "a virtuous cycle where a diverse product selection leads to an increase in members, which in turn leads to an expansion of food ingredient distributors joining the platform" as a key growth driver. Indeed, as of last month, the number of distributors on the platform increased by 35% year-on-year to 3,616, and the number of products for sale grew by 32% to approximately 170,000. This expanded product range and active discount promotions from distributors are powerful incentives attracting more restaurant businesses to Shikbom. It has effectively built a robust ecosystem where both suppliers and demanders grow together. Factors adding to its competitiveness include a stable direct delivery system and a nationwide logistics network. Beyond simple 'rocket delivery,' it offers meticulous service, directly placing ingredients into restaurant refrigerators, and has expanded its logistics network beyond major metropolitan cities nationwide to include Jeonbuk and Chungcheong regions, thereby enhancing accessibility. This also explains why the surge in new subscribers, which began last year primarily in metropolitan cities like Busan, Daegu, and Gwangju, has recently spread nationwide. Marketboro CEO Lim Sa-seong emphasized, "Through price comparison for 170,000 food ingredients, various purchase benefits, and direct delivery services, customers who previously used Naver or Coupang are rapidly flocking to Shikbom." Furthermore, he expressed his ambition to "operate specialized sections for vegetables, livestock, and seafood in the future, enabling even customers who used to purchase fresh produce directly from food ingredient marts to buy more affordably and conveniently through Shikbom," thereby signaling his commitment to leading innovation in the restaurant food ingredient distribution market.