Sungsimdang Signs Business Agreement with Daejeon Agricultural Technology Center
Plans to Promote Daejeon Wheat Field Festival and Boost Tourism in Daejeon
‘Sungsimdang,’ a bakery representing Daejeon, has decided to establish a domestic wheat production complex. Sungsimdang plans to make bread using wheat they cultivate themselves and develop wheat fields and bread as local tourism products.
According to Daejeon City on the 11th, Sungsimdang and the Daejeon Agricultural Technology Center signed a “Business Agreement for the Creation of Wheat Field Scenery and the Sixth Industrialization of Local Agriculture in Daejeon” on the 1st of this month. This agreement was made with the purpose of laying the foundation to enhance the competitiveness of local agriculture.
According to the agreement, the two organizations will jointly promote ▲distribution of excellent domestic wheat seeds and on-site technical support for growth management ▲establishment of a domestic wheat production complex ▲development of a Daejeon bread brand ▲support for wheat education and consulting ▶planning of the Daejeon Wheat Field Festival ▶expansion of consumption and fostering of the wheat industry ▶activation of Daejeon tourism.
Customers are selecting bread at Seongsimdang, a representative attraction of Daejeon. Photo by Heo Yeonghan
This agreement is known to have been made at the proposal of Sungsimdang, which is promoting a project to create wheat fields in Daejeon. Recently, Sungsimdang sowed the domestic wheat variety ‘Hwanggeumal’ on its own land of 23,140㎡ (about 7,000 pyeong) located in Gyochon-dong, Yuseong-gu, to establish a wheat field. The Daejeon Agricultural Technology Center helped supply the domestic wheat variety, which is not widely available in the market.
Additionally, the two organizations plan to promote stay-type tourism by linking wheat field experience programs for out-of-town visitors who come to purchase Sungsimdang bread. Lee Hyosook, director of the Daejeon Agricultural Technology Center, said, “We will do our best to create a wheat field production complex in cooperation with local companies in Daejeon, enhance the added value of domestic agricultural products, and commercialize rural landscapes as tourism products.”
Meanwhile, Sungsimdang, which started as a small steamed bun shop in front of Daejeon Station in 1956, is a bakery operated by Rosso, a local company of Daejeon City. Sungsimdang is especially famous for adhering to the principle of “selling all bread produced on the same day.” Leftover bread after daily sales has also been donated to underprivileged neighbors as an act of kindness. This follows the management policy of the late founder, Im Gilsun, a Catholic believer.
Starting as a neighborhood bakery, Sungsimdang received nationwide love to the extent that its sales exceeded 100 billion KRW last year. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Sungsimdang’s sales amounted to 124.3 billion KRW as of last year, making it the only domestic bakery, not a large franchise, to surpass 100 billion KRW. In the same year, Sungsimdang’s operating profit was 31.5 billion KRW, surpassing Paris Croissant, operated by Paris Baguette (19.9 billion KRW), and CJ Foodville, which operates Tous Les Jours (21.4 billion KRW).
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