Military ice cream 'single monopoly' broken... Service members shift to 'direct selection'

- Public Procurement Service drastically introduces 'Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)' for military meal ice cream
- 4 companies including Binggrae, Seoju, Daesang, and CJ participate... 20 popular items supplied first
- Reflects young service members' preferences... Military meal MAS supply reached 461.3 billion KRW last year
- Capturing the 500,000-strong military supply market... Private food industry's territorial expansion competition begins in earnest

- The ice cream supply system for military meals within army bases is being completely reorganized from the existing single-company monopoly method to a selective structure where service members directly choose the products they want. This measure reflects the changing preferences of young service members and aims to increase military meal satisfaction.

According to the Public Procurement Service on the 6th, the procurement method for military ice cream has been converted to a 'Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)' to supply popular commercial products from various angles through the Nara Marketplace shopping mall. The Multiple Award Schedule is a system where contracts are signed with multiple private companies, and the demand agency, each military unit, freely selects and purchases the desired products.

Four major private food companies, including Binggrae Co., Ltd., Seoju Co., Ltd., Daesang Corporation, and CJ CheilJedang Corporation, participated in this first phase of contract reorganization. Accordingly, each unit can now directly select and receive 20 popular commercial products with high preference among service members, such as Bungeo Samanco, Condensed Milk Red Bean Bingsu, Melon Slush, and Monaka. The Public Procurement Service plans to continuously expand participating manufacturers and product categories in the future.

The military meal MAS project, which the Public Procurement Service has been promoting since taking over the procurement rights for general military supplies from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration in July 2020, has shown steady growth. Last year, the MAS supply performance for military meals amounted to 461.3 billion KRW, an 8.1% increase from the previous year (426.8 billion KRW), and the number of meal products registered in the defense commercial goods shopping mall increased by 37.2% to 7,013.

As the gateway to the military supply market, which boasts a stable fixed demand of 500,000 people, widens, the market share competition among private food companies is expected to intensify further. The industry is significantly strengthening customized marketing strategies targeting the military market, such as developing military-exclusive standard products and launching seasonal specialized desserts.