HYPE DETECTIVE · Cooling

Dubai chewy cookie (dujjonku): how much more did the hype cost?

From late 2025 searches exploded and cookies sold for ₩5,000–10,000+ each, while wholesale pistachio prices more than doubled in months.

Pre-hype priceNot collected
Peak price₩5,000~₩10,000
Current price₩6,000~₩10,000
Cost floor₩2,940
Peak ÷ cost floor1.7–3.4×
Hype half-life35 days
Operating stores vs observed peakNot collected
Spike → big retailretail 74 days earlier

“Not collected” means no sourced number yet; gaps are never filled from memory.

PRICE TIMELINE

How the price moved

2025-10-15 · Launch · Confirmed
₩3,100 CU Dubai chewy rice cake, 1 piece
CU nationwide · CU · 한국경제 — CU, 두바이 초콜릿 신상 디저트 출시(2025.10.29, CU 발표: 2024년 출시 첫날 20만 개 완판·누적 매출 200억 원)
2026-01-09 · Peak · Single source
₩5,000~₩10,000 1 piece, dessert shops
Korean shops · 한국경제 — 두쫀쿠 나도 한 번 해볼까? 재료비 알아보던 사장님 화들짝(2026.1.9)
2026-01-16 · Peak · Single source
₩7,500 1 piece (2 for ₩15,000)
A Seoul shop · 아시아경제 — 두쫀쿠, 궁금해서 2시간 줄 섰어요… 두 알에 1만5000원?(2026.1.16)
2026-01-19 · Other · Confirmed
₩3,600~₩4,300 CU Dubai-style choco cookie (before → after rise)
CU nationwide · CU · ZDNet Korea — CU, 두쫀쿠 가격 20% 인상… GS25·세븐일레븐·이마트24는?(2026.1.19)
2026-02-26 · Current · Single source
₩6,000~₩10,000 1 piece, dessert shops
Korean shops · 나우뉴스 — NYT도 주목한 두쫀쿠 열풍, 불과 한 달 만에 식었다(2026.2.26)

RAW MATERIALS

Raw-material prices

Pistachios (Korean trade price)
2025-08 30,000 KRW/kg → 2025-12 70,000–80,000 KRW/kg → 2026-01 100,000–110,000 KRW/kg
Kadayif (5 kg)
2025 40,000–70,000 KRW/5 kg, before the fad → 2026-01 140,000 KRW/5 kg or more

ESTIMATED COST FLOOR

What it takes at minimum

₩2,940 · 1 piece, ingredients

Per-piece ingredient cost calculated by Hankyung with pistachios at ₩100,000/kg and marshmallow at ₩49,000/kg; it reported ingredients at 38–46% of the selling price depending on pistachio prices. Labour and rent are excluded.

This is not any business’s actual production cost or operating margin.

Excludes: Packaging, Labour, Rent, Platform fees, Marketing

The peak price is about 1.7–3.4× this floor — a simple multiple, not a margin.

STORES

How stores grew and shrank

Not collected

SEARCH INTEREST

When search took off and cooled

050100half20252026
Google search interest (South Korea, weekly, peak = 100) · bold line is the 4-week average · 2025-06-01 2026-09-30
Show weekly values

2025-11-30 1 · 2025-12-07 2 · 2025-12-14 7 · 2025-12-21 20 · 2025-12-28 39 · 2026-01-04 68 · 2026-01-11 98 · 2026-01-18 100 · 2026-01-25 84 · 2026-02-01 68 · 2026-02-08 52 · 2026-02-15 37 · 2026-02-22 33 · 2026-03-01 27 · 2026-03-08 22 · 2026-03-15 18 · 2026-03-22 13 · 2026-03-29 11 · 2026-04-05 9 · 2026-04-12 8 · 2026-04-19 8 · 2026-04-26 6 · 2026-05-03 7 · 2026-05-10 6 · 2026-05-17 6 · 2026-05-24 6 · 2026-05-31 6 · 2026-06-07 4 · 2026-06-14 4 · 2026-06-21 4 · 2026-06-28 3 · 2026-07-05 3 · 2026-07-12 3 · 2026-07-19 3 · 2026-07-26 2 · 2026-08-02 2 · 2026-08-09 2 · 2026-08-16 2 · 2026-08-23 2 · 2026-08-30 3 · 2026-09-06 2 · 2026-09-13 3 · 2026-09-20 3 · 2026-09-27 2

Take-off (25% of peak)
2025-12-28
Peak (4-week average)
2026-01-25 · single-week high 2026-01-18
Hype half-life
35 days (half of peak by 2026-03-01)
Latest
2026-09-27 · 2/100

HYPE LIFECYCLE

Lifecycle and timeline

  1. 1. Discovery
  2. 2. Early viral
  3. 3. Search explosion
  4. 4. Price premium
  5. 5. Store expansion
  6. 6. Large retail entry
  7. 7. Peak
  8. 8. Saturation
  9. 9. Decline
  10. 10. Survival / disappearance

Now: Decline · Cooling · Unknown — Searches fell fast after the mid-January peak; a shop making 1,000 a day at the peak reported selling 250 (Feb 2026)

2025-10-15 · Large retail · Unknown
CU launches Dubai chewy rice cake (₩3,100); 100K+ sold in a week
한국경제 — CU, 두바이 초콜릿 신상 디저트 출시(2025.10.29, CU 발표: 2024년 출시 첫날 20만 개 완판·누적 매출 200억 원)
2025-12-28 · Viral / search · Unknown
Search interest takes off (passes 25% of peak)
Google Trends — 대한민국 웹 검색, 주간(키워드별 정점=100)
2026-01-13 · Price · Unknown
Pistachios ₩30K/kg (Aug 2025) → ₩70–80K (Dec 2025); Costco limits one per customer
서울신문 — 피스타치오 가격 2배 만든 두쫀쿠… 제2 탕후루 될라(2026.1.13)
2026-01-16 · Delivery · Unknown
Baemin first-week orders +321% m/m; Dunkin sold 1.26M Dubai doughnuts, Sulbing 1M+
아시아경제 — 두쫀쿠, 궁금해서 2시간 줄 섰어요… 두 알에 1만5000원?(2026.1.16)
2026-01-19 · Price · Unknown
CU raises three Dubai desserts by 12.9–19.4%
ZDNet Korea — CU, 두쫀쿠 가격 20% 인상… GS25·세븐일레븐·이마트24는?(2026.1.19)
2026-02-26 · Press · Unknown
From 1,000 a day at the peak to 250; per-person limit of 4 lifted
나우뉴스 — NYT도 주목한 두쫀쿠 열풍, 불과 한 달 만에 식었다(2026.2.26)

Large retail arrived 74 days before the search take-off.

Organic, paid or sponsored spread is shown only when public records confirm it; no business is said to have engineered a fad.

WHO CAPTURED THE HYPE PREMIUM

Who captured the hype premium?

Likely revenue source
Raw-material suppliers — Pistachio and kadayif sales
Trade prices more than doubled in months with order backlogs; supplier and importer profits are not public
Confirmed revenue source
Convenience stores — Own-label convenience desserts
CU sold 1.8M Dubai chewy rice cakes in three months (reported) and raised three prices in Jan 2026
1.8M units in 3 months
Confirmed revenue source
Early / large brands — Spin-off menus at large dessert brands
Dunkin 1.26M Dubai-style doughnuts, Sulbing 1M+ (reported)
Likely revenue source
Delivery platforms — Order commissions
Baemin first-week orders +321% and searches ×25 (reported); commission income not disclosed
Confirmed revenue source
Late entrants — Shops that entered near the peak
A Mangwon-dong bakery said sales fell to 10–15 a day (Feb 2026)
Confirmed revenue source
Consumers — Prices paid
Two-hour queues; buyers queued without knowing the price

Only published figures count as confirmed; a clear mechanism without amounts is “likely”. No made-up scores.

SCARCITY

Sell-outs, queues and limits

Limit of 4 per person, lifted once demand fell · 나우뉴스 — NYT도 주목한 두쫀쿠 열풍, 불과 한 달 만에 식었다(2026.2.26)
Two-hour queues; stock-finder apps appeared · 아시아경제 — 두쫀쿠, 궁금해서 2시간 줄 섰어요… 두 알에 1만5000원?(2026.1.16)
Costco limited unsalted pistachios to one each; kadayif bulk orders backlogged · 서울신문 — 피스타치오 가격 2배 만든 두쫀쿠… 제2 탕후루 될라(2026.1.13)

REPORT A PRICE

What did you pay back then?

Many pre-hype and peak prices are missing. Reports with receipts or photos are reviewed and shown separately as user reports.

SOURCES

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-02

DETECTIVE RADAR

Dubai chewy cookie (dujjonku) from other angles

  • Origin DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Cost DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Distribution DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Inflation DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Discount DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Value DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Hype DetectiveThis page
  • Hogu IndexApplies · not analysed yet
  • Tax DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Wage DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet
  • Ingredient Detective (food & drinks)Applies · not analysed yet
  • Regulation DetectiveApplies · not analysed yet

✓ analysed · △ applies, not analysed yet · not applicable: Privacy Detective · All axes on one page