Hundreds Cause Traffic Jam in Open Run... Competition to Buy 'Last Mango Siru of This Summer'

Waiting 2-3 Hours on Weekdays Is Standard
Paying Extra and Hiring Part-Timers

Seongsimdang, a famous bakery in Daejeon, has decided to stop selling its popular menu item, the 'Mango Siru' cake, leading to fierce last-minute purchasing competition. On the 19th, Seongsimdang announced through its official social network service (SNS) that "the Mango Siru, originally scheduled to be sold until July, will end early depending on the supply of ingredients," and expressed gratitude for the "warm love for Mango Siru."

Sungsimdang Mango Siru.
Photo by Sungsimdang SNS capture

They added, "However, the boutique at the main store will sell a limited quantity per day, but early sell-out and early closure are possible."

Currently, at the boutique store in Eunhaeng-dong, Daejeon, buyers flock to purchase the last remaining Mango Siru, resulting in waiting lines of at least 2 to 3 hours even on weekday mornings. Initially, customers could purchase up to two per person, but due to the crowd, this was changed to one per person. The fruit siru sells between 350 and up to 600 units per day.

In July of last year, the Jungbu Police Station in Daejeon recognized through on-site inspections that the roads around the area were congested due to crowds caused by open-run events. To ensure pedestrian safety, they installed long poles restricting vehicle movement in a 30-meter section in front of the Seongsimdang main store.

Although social media was abuzz with claims that Seongsimdang requested customers to refrain from purchasing due to the hundreds of people gathering, Seongsimdang clarified, "It is true that there were waiting lines of hundreds of people, but we did not send separate messages to customers or take such actions out of concern for safety accidents."

The Mango Siru is a follow-up to Seongsimdang’s popular winter menu, the 'Strawberry Siru.' Despite being filled generously with fruit across four layers of cake, it was priced affordably at 43,000 KRW, making it a cost-effective cake that attracted attention. It is even considered comparable to hotel cakes priced over 100,000 KRW.

As the popularity of Mango Siru continued, resale posts appeared on secondhand trading platforms with premiums of 20,000 to 30,000 KRW added, and even proxy purchase part-time jobs emerged.

Due to ongoing popularity causing crowds and traffic congestion in front of Seongsimdang, the Daejeon city government announced on the 12th that "during the '0 o’clock Festival' period, to prevent crowding accidents, Seongsimdang has actively considered introducing a queuing table system."

Meanwhile, Seongsimdang continues its fruit siru series and is currently selling the 'Saenggyul Siru' as a successor to Mango Siru. It is also known that internal testing for the 'Pineapple Siru' is underway.