Taking Full Responsibility to Overcome Regional Low Birth Rates
Sungsimdang, the bakery that has made Daejeon Metropolitan City known as 'Seongsim Metropolitan City,' a local representative bakery, is offering discount benefits for pregnant women as well as a 'free pass' service that allows entry without waiting.
Visitors queuing up to buy bread in front of Seongsimdang main store, a representative attraction of Daejeon. Photo by Heo Younghan
Sungsimdang provides a 5% discount on the payment amount to pregnant women under the name of 'Expectant Mom Discount.' Pregnant women can receive benefits at all Sungsimdang branches by presenting a pregnancy badge or maternity handbook. Moreover, pregnant women do not have to wait in the long lines at Sungsimdang. They can shop immediately in the store without queuing.
Sungsimdang is taking the lead in overcoming the low birthrate in the region. Recently, it was revealed that they are preparing to operate a workplace daycare center, aiming to open in November. A new building with one basement floor and four above-ground floors (land area 205㎡) is under construction near the main store in Daeheung-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon. The 2nd and 3rd floors of this building, scheduled for completion in the second half of this year, will be used as a daycare center for Sungsimdang employees' children and employee rest areas.
According to the job announcement from the Daejeon Metropolitan City Childcare Support Center, Sungsimdang conducted recruitment for childcare staff including daycare teachers, assistant teachers, extended care teachers, and cooks for the workplace daycare center last August. The expected start date is November.
Under the current Infant Care Act, workplaces employing 300 or more female workers or 500 or more workers in total are required to establish workplace daycare centers. During a Ministry of Employment and Labor survey last year, Sungsimdang calculated the number of regular employees per branch and was classified as a workplace with fewer than 300 employees, so there was no obligation to establish a workplace daycare center. However, due to the high proportion of female employees, Sungsimdang is opening a workplace daycare center to improve employee welfare and help overcome the regional low birthrate.
Strong sales driven by responsible actions
Sungsimdang started as a steamed bun shop in front of Daejeon Station in 1956 and has operated stores only in Daejeon for 68 years. With the management philosophy of "not opening branches outside Daejeon," it has stores only in four locations: the main store in Eunhaeng-dong, Daejeon Station, Lotte Department Store Daejeon Branch, and Daejeon Convention Center.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, Sungsimdang (Rosso) recorded sales of 124.31543 billion KRW last year. This is a 52.1% increase from the previous year (81.7 billion KRW). Sungsimdang is the first single bakery brand, not a large franchise, to exceed 100 billion KRW in sales.
Sungsimdang's operating profit last year was 31.5 billion KRW, an increase of 104.5%, surpassing large companies like Paris Baguette and Tous Les Jours. Paris Croissant, which operates Paris Baguette, had an operating profit of 19.8817 billion KRW last year, up 5.8% from the previous year, and CJ Foodville's operating profit was 21.42212 billion KRW. CJ Foodville also operates brands such as Vips, The Place, and Jeil Jemyunso in addition to Tous Les Jours.
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