Ministry of SMEs Designates Baeknyeon Gage and Baeknyeon Sogongin for This Year
'Eohyangwon' in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk, is a Chinese cuisine specialty restaurant that has been operating for three generations since its opening in the 1960s. Its main dish is Taiwanese-style beef noodle soup, characterized by thin noodles and spicy broth. Fresh ingredients are carefully selected and sourced from Gyeongju and Busan to prepare the food.
'Samsong Jessica's Bakery' in Jung-gu, Daegu, is the flagship store of Samsong Bakery, which is considered one of the top five bakeries nationwide. Its main menu items are oven-baked croquettes and crispy whole corn bread. Park Seong-wook, son of Park Han-dong, the second-generation representative of Samsong Bakery, founded the Samsong BNC corporation and franchised the business. They are expanding their business by operating stores nationwide.
On the 30th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced the designation of 86 new century-old stores (Baeknyeon Gage) and 52 century-old artisans (Baeknyeon Sogongin), including Eohyangwon and Samsong Jessica's Bakery. Century-old stores are designated for small business owners and SMEs that have maintained their unique business for over 30 years. Century-old artisans are small craftsmen who have possessed unique skilled techniques based on craftsmanship for over 15 years. This government certification, which comprehensively evaluates business longevity, management philosophy, product/service distinctiveness, and regional contribution, recognizes them as 'famous restaurants' and 'artisans.'
The newly designated century-old stores this time overcame a high competition rate of 3.7 to 1, and century-old artisans faced a 5 to 1 competition ratio. Currently, there are 1,424 century-old stores and 959 century-old artisans designated nationwide.
Once designated as century-old stores or artisans, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups provides certification plaques and storyboards containing growth stories. They also support sales channels, facility improvements, and marketing. Support includes online platform entry, hosting special exhibitions for online sales channel development, as well as entry into meal kit stores and participation in exhibitions and fairs. Starting this year, they have opened and are operating a ‘Century-Old Store Meal Kit Store’ at Incheon Airport targeting domestic and international travelers.
The Ministry is also promoting various support projects such as facility improvements including work environment and process enhancements, energy efficiency, and management consulting to improve the capabilities and productivity of century-old stores and artisans.
To celebrate the '2023 Hwanggeumnyeok Donghaeng Festival,' held from today until the 27th of next month, the Ministry plans to hold an event offering various prizes to those who visit century-old stores and artisans, get certified, or upload recommendation posts on social networking services (SNS). At the special event venue of the Donghaeng Festival held in Daegu’s Dongsung-ro, a ‘Century Pop-up Store’ will be set up to offer special discounts on meal kit products from famous century-old stores and products from century-old artisans nationwide.
Lee Wang-jae, head of the Regional Commercial District Division at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “Century-old stores and artisans are valuable businesses that have commercialized the unique characteristics and specialties of their regions and have been recognized by consumers through long-term technological development. We expect that through this new designation, they will grow further, revitalize the local economy, and serve as ambassadors showcasing diverse regional ‘flavors’ and ‘skills’ to consumers.”
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