SEOUL, KOREA – Lunch boxes sold at convenience stores have grown increasingly popular in the past year, reports Korea Bizwire, with sales nearly tripling and reshaping the country’s lunch culture.

Lunch meals sold at convenience stores come relatively cheap, ranging between 3,000–4,000 won (U.S. $2.66–$3.55), with the quality and variety of the dishes featured constantly improving to such delicacies as bulgogi beef, ribs and pork cutlets, along with a wide range of side dishes, writes the news source.

“In the past, convenience store meals were viewed more as on-the-go quick bites, but the new lunch boxes are more like a whole meal,” an official at 7-Eleven told Korea Bizwire, adding, “The quality and taste of the lunch boxes have improved so much that they fit the preferences of workers, students and people living alone.”

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported in April that sales at South Korean convenience stores had risen 31.4% compared to a year earlier, growth that was largely driven by lunch boxes and pre-cooked foods.