Residents, Students, and Merchants Collaborate to Develop New Menus for 15 Restaurants in Gunja Area
[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Seon-gap) is drawing attention by promoting the ‘Sejong Sobansikdang’ project, which collaborates with Sejong University Campustown to develop new menu items for restaurants in Gunja-dong.
‘Sejong Sobansikdang’ is a project launched as part of the Seoul Campustown initiative to revitalize commercial districts weakened by COVID-19 by developing new menu items.
The Campustown project is designed to promote regional coexistence through the resources of universities, public support, and cooperation with local communities.
For the development of ‘Sejong Sobansikdang’ menus, nine residents and students from Gwangjin-gu and 15 restaurants in the Gunja area were selected. The selected residents and students proposed ideas to each restaurant, discussed with merchants to develop menus, and finalized recipes with advice from culinary researchers.
The newly developed menus include a total of 15 items such as Cheese Wangchang Dakgalbi, Guseokgi Charcoal Mini Jokbal, and Sejong Flower Mulhoe, covering a variety of cuisines from Korean, snack foods, Japanese, to Western dishes. A ‘Sejong Sobansikdang’ signboard was installed at the entrance of restaurants applying the new menus.
Prior to this, in March, the district recruited 45 residents and students and held tasting sessions with three participants per restaurant to evaluate taste, dish selection and plating, teamwork among members, and hygiene.
Additionally, to promote Sejong Sobansikdang, an online event was held where customers who dined at the participating restaurants for 20 days and posted certification photos received Onnuri gift certificates, generating positive responses.
Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, said, “I hope this new menu development becomes an opportunity to foster a sense of community,” adding, “We will strive to enable merchants, local residents, students, and young entrepreneurs to work together to solve problems of individuals, organizations, and the local community.”
Going forward, the district plans to provide customized education on finance, taxation, and marketing to merchants in the Gunja area in connection with the Sejong University Campustown project.
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