Heebab — Turning ‘Every Meal Like the First’ Into a Mukbang Business
Her mukbang broadcasts began in 2019 and grew into a business supported by brand advertising, television appearances, and a production team. This article examines Heebab's content, company operations, and the income that comes to her personally.
A Month's Income Revealed in Daegu
On the E Channel web entertainment show Saturday Is on Us, released on October 5, 2024, Heebab disclosed her income to a couple she met in Daegu. At the time of filming, the money she had taken home the previous month was about KRW35,000,000.
It was Heebab's monthly share, generated by receiving a certain percentage of the money left after staff salaries and operating expenses were handled.
From 'Hee-jae, Let's Eat' to Heebab
Heebab's real name is Jwa Hee-jae. From middle school, she watched mukbang and developed the thought that she wanted to try it herself, and after graduating from Peking University's Department of Sociology in July 2019, she returned to Korea. That December, when she began broadcasting, she took the name Heebab, derived from “Hee-jae, let's eat,” which she had heard as a child.
There was also a production partner who had been with her from the beginning. Romae, whom she met through an acquaintance in 2019, majored in broadcasting studies, and when Heebab said she wanted to do broadcasts, Romae suggested they try it together.
The First Broadcast and the Tonkatsu Record
In her first broadcast, Heebab ate a whole pork head she had boiled herself, and she recalled feeling awkward, as if she were talking to a computer. As the broadcasts continued, she became accustomed to hosting, and from about two or three months in she noticed the audience growing.
In March 2020, just over 100 days after her debut, Heebab said in an interview that her goal for that year was 100,000 subscribers. She named the large tonkatsu challenge as the most memorable video at the time. She devoured the food in 7 minutes 45 seconds, and she was surprised to finish faster than she had expected. It became the channel’s most-watched video at the time and helped introduce Heebab to a wider audience.
The Person Who Eats ‘Every Meal as if It Were the First’
Her stated mukbang philosophy was “every meal as if it were the first meal.” She focused on the pleasure of eating while thinking of the food in front of her as a meal that would be difficult to eat again. She added that freshly made food is the most delicious. Her ability to eat a lot was combined with expressions and reactions that showed she enjoyed the food.
In the composition of her videos, she did not stay with one type of food. She continued meals through a first and second round and even dessert, changing the menu, and in “Random Food Defense” she ate delivery food that arrived over the course of two hours, taking six hours to do so. The video was introduced in a June 2022 Woman Donga interview article as the channel’s most popular video, with 7,120,000 views.
Heebab cited her easygoing personality, witty way of speaking, and neat eating as her charms. Wanting to break the perception that mukbang performers are boring, she studied how she spoke, and her bickering conversations with Romae in her videos also created laughter. She explained that showing her usual self on broadcasts as well makes viewers feel comfortable.
Activities Broadened Through Variety Shows
In November 2021, she joined E Channel’s “Saturdays Are for Food” as an original member. It was a program in which she traveled with Noh Sa-yeon, Park Myung-soo, and others for one night and two days, visiting local restaurants and showing meals and travel together. At the production presentation, Heebab said she could show her daily life that could not all be captured on YouTube. Travel and conversation, and time spent with the other cast members, were added between eating scenes.
From November 2023, she also became a regular on MBC M and MBC every1’s “Weekly Idol.” She took on a segment in which she competed in eating battles with idols every week, and the production team reported that she had 1,550,000 YouTube subscribers at the time. The big-eater ability she had demonstrated on her own channel became a recurring element of her appearances on other programs.
Money Spent on the Company and Content
Income generated by the videos was also disclosed through a broadcast. A collaboration video with Lee Yeon-bok introduced on KBS's Boss in the Mirror in September 2023 earned USD9,330 over one year from a single video. In the South Korean won amount presented on the broadcast at the time, it was approximately KRW12,500,000.
In reports covering the same broadcast, cumulative income from 2019 to 2022 was presented as KRW2,400,000,000, excluding paid product placement (PPL). Advertising contracts that introduced brand products in videos were added as a separate revenue source. Heebab explained that PPL was the largest revenue source, comparing the amount for a single advertisement to the price of one domestic mid-size car.
As the business grew, Heebab also took direct part in running the company. The company featured in the 2023 broadcast was a comprehensive food-and-beverage and media company with 16 employees, including Heebab, AmiAmi, Meokgaeng, and others. In meetings, YouTube income, well-received videos, and plans for the next content were reviewed, and she also made direct bank transfers for employee salaries. She explained that she sends the money herself because she wants to manage everything one by one.
At the time, the disclosed monthly salary for executive-level employees was approximately KRW12,000,000 before tax, and the monthly salary for an entry-level PD was also over KRW5,000,000. Heebab said that she generously compensates the executives who have been with the company since its early days. The people who began the broadcast work together ended up receiving high pay as the channel grew.
The food costs required to keep making mukbang content were also considerable. In an October 2024 video disclosing income, Heebab stated that the monthly food expense, including food used for content, was approximately KRW15,000,000. She explained that the amount that came back to her varied greatly from month to month, and that in the previous month, when she took KRW35,000,000, she had earned more than usual.
Even at the meal in Daegu where the income story came up, Heebab and her party ordered 53 menu items, and the food bill came to approximately KRW330,000. The couple with them had been dating for only 9 days but readily took the bill. They later spun a roulette wheel prepared by the production team and won back three times the cost of the meal.