People eat instant noodles at a picnic table outside a convenience store in Seoul, May 25. Newsis

By Kim Jae-heun

A 34-year-old owner of a salad restaurant surnamed Kim expected his business to improve shortly after the government drastically eased COVID-19 quarantine measures on April 18. However, soaring prices of wheat, cooking oil and other ingredients triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have severely impacted his business.

"All of the food ingredients from pork to vegetables necessary to make my restaurant's salads have had their prices increased. Also, I am not receiving as many online orders compared to before the government's lifting of social distancing restrictions," Kim said.

A 35-year-old coffee shop owner surnamed Lee also said his store profits did not rebound instantly after regulations were lifted, because he has to spend 25 percent to 30 percent more on ingredients.

"The prices of coffee beans and milk soared so much that I am barely making a profit. And I can't just increase the prices of my caffeinated beverages because then people will just go to another coffee shop," Lee said.

Like Kim and Lee, many self-employed people in the restaurant business are reeling due to soaring prices of food ingredients, preventing their restaurants from enjoying the benefits of scrapped COVID-19 quarantine measures.

According to a recent report by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp., four out of five restaurant owners suffer from soaring inflation. They said their businesses have not made up for losses incurred during the pandemic and it will take at least six months for that to happen.

"I need to raise product prices by an average 10 percent to keep my business going. I won't do it right away because it will upset my customers, so I will do it gradually over time," Kim said.

According to Statistics Korea, the processed food index rose 7.6 percent to 109.19 in May from a year earlier, marking the highest increase since January 2012 when the index jumped 7.9 percent. Prices of salt, flour and cooking oil rose 30 percent, 26 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively, compared to a year ago.