Wanju Tteokme Village, Annual Sales Approaching 1 Billion KRW

Employment of 32 Disabled Persons... Achieved 990 Million Won in Sales This Year

[Wanju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho] Wanju Tteokme Village (Director Yang Jeong-suk), a vocational rehabilitation facility for the disabled in Wanju-gun, is making headlines by recording nearly 1 billion KRW in sales this year despite the adverse conditions caused by COVID-19.

According to Wanju-gun on the 17th, 'Wanju Tteokme Village,' located on Sambong-ro in Bongdong-eup, was established in December 2009. After being directly managed by the county, it was entrusted to the private sector from 2013, and since January 2019, it has been operated by the social welfare corporation Songgwang (CEO Kim Jong-sik). It is a representative vocational rehabilitation facility for the disabled.

Pursuing a sustainable job stabilization for people with severe disabilities and a workplace community living together through win-win cooperation with local residents, Wanju Tteokme Village supplied various types of tteokme tteok such as glutinous rice cakes and shaped rice cakes to a total of 294 locations this year, including about 260 schools and group meal services, 20 military units, and 9 local food stores, recording annual sales of 990 million KRW.

With about 40 people working, including 32 disabled workers, this place has maintained safety and introduced the concept of healthy food throughout the entire process from raw materials to delivery for 10 years since registering as a HACCP-certified rice cake processing company in September 2011, gaining trust from clients.

Through 10 years of successful HACCP certification, this company is recognized for its ability to provide healthy food and maintain military contracts for 12 years. Currently, it is engaged in 90 types of rice cake processed products, experiential activities, cultivation of rice cake processing raw materials, and small packaging sales of agricultural processed products.

Not satisfied with this, recently, it has challenged expanding its domestic market share by launching online sales promotions to expand its nationwide sales network.

Wanju Tteokme Village started Naver Funding in 2019 and developed an online distribution product, the frozen ice glutinous rice cake set, which is currently steadily loved. This year, it has also been recognized as a highly customer-satisfactory product by composing holiday gift sets.

Since July this year, it has participated in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's vocational rehabilitation facility management consulting support project for the disabled, accelerating the naming development project for the online sale-specialized product ‘Ice Glutinous Rice Cake Set,’ deciding on the final trademark ‘Nun-kkot 雪花’ (Snow Flower), and has currently applied for trademark registration.

Director Yang Jeong-suk said, “As a community established for the new dreams and hopes of people with disabilities, we will strive to enable them to become protagonists of life within the local community and live happy lives,” adding, “We will pursue the essence of vocational rehabilitation for the disabled through better products and professional management.”

Wanju=Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho stonepeak@asiae.co.kr