Foodcore: "Yonsei Cream Bread Sells Every 2 Seconds, Now 'Swelly' Goes Global"

The Birth of a Mega-Hit Amid the COVID-19 Crisis: The Star of the "Banggalshot" Trend
Emphasizing Safe Food with Honest Ingredients and Hygiene Systems
Pushing into Overseas Markets with the Proprietary "Swelly" Brand

"In Korea, it's Yonsei Milk Cream Bread; overseas, it's Swelly Cream Bread."

On May 8, Youngsik Kim, CEO of the food manufacturing company Foodcore, met with reporters at the company's headquarters in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, and emphasized their proprietary brand "Swelly" as he announced the company's second leap forward as a global K-food company. The name Swelly combines the English words "Sweet" and "Well-being," and is meant to convey the message "creating a happy life with healthy and delicious products." Swelly is also another name for the Yonsei Milk Cream Bread, which became the centerpiece of the "Banggalshot" trend on social media in 2022, where people would split the bread in half and share photos of the cream filling.

The development of this brand reflects CEO Kim's concerns. Consumers only remembered the bread as Yonsei Milk Bread or CU Convenience Store Bread, leaving Foodcore with a "faceless bread." He said, "We only knew how to manufacture diligently, but we didn't know about marketing," and explained, "Swelly is a brand designed for export." He shared this philosophy during the press conference hosted by the Korea Management Innovation Small Business Association (MainBiz Association) on the same day.

Swelly Cream Bread 3 Types. From the left, Cream Bread, Pistachio Cream Bread, Chocolate Cream Bread. Foodcore

The Day the Factory Stopped, the Birth of the 'National Cream Bread' That Captivated the MZ Generation

Founded in 2004, Foodcore recorded sales of 98.3 billion KRW and operating profit of 7 billion KRW last year. Its consolidated sales with its parent company Joy Food reached 134.4 billion KRW. Foodcore supplies a variety of products such as bread, sandwiches, and cookies to convenience stores and large discount marts nationwide. CEO Kim stated, "Our bread is not only in KTX cookies but also served in Korean Air in-flight meals, Starbucks, and Paris Baguette."

Despite stable growth, a crisis emerged. In 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the factory to shut down for a month and the company faced the risk of insolvency despite being in the black, CEO Kim brought out his secret recipe. He combined the know-how he gained while working in Japan with the preference of Korean consumers, who dislike bread with little filling, to develop a "fully filled" cream bread. After proposing a partnership to BGF Retail, the operator of CU, and joining hands with Yonsei Milk, he launched the Yonsei Milk Cream Bread.

Bread cooling tower at Foodcore Gyeonggi Anseong Plant and YouTube Shorts 'Banggalshot' image. Foodcore

This bread, with 80% of its volume filled with cream, quickly rose to the status of a national cream bread, riding the "Banggalshot" trend among the MZ generation (Millennials and Generation Z) on social media. As of last month, cumulative sales surpassed 77 million units, and it continues to sell at a rate of one every two seconds. This success played a decisive role in Foodcore's average annual sales growth of 20% since 2020. Just as Isu Bakery is known for red bean bread and Sung Sim Dang for vegetable soboro bread, CEO Kim aspires for Foodcore to be synonymous with cream bread.

Made with Honesty, Protected with Integrity

CEO Kim's management philosophy can be summarized as "honesty" and "integrity." "Honesty" has become one of the company's four core values and is reflected in the factory's hygiene and safety systems. Foodcore has obtained HACCP certification, international food safety certification (FSSC22000), and even U.S. FDA factory certification.

This attention to even the smallest issues on-site sparked management innovation. Foodcore manages product cycles on a three-month basis to keep up with rapidly changing convenience store trends, and has established a system to boldly discontinue products and launch new ones based on market response. The company has raised the quality of convenience store bread to the level of bakery bread. In particular, by developing technology to prevent bread staling, Foodcore broke the stereotype that "bread cannot be refrigerated or frozen," making long-term storage and export possible. The company has secured market competitiveness with technology and security that even large corporations find difficult to imitate.

Youngsik Kim, CEO of Foodcore, is being interviewed at the press conference during the on-site tour of excellent management innovation companies hosted by the Korea Management Innovation Small Business Association (MainBiz Association) on the 8th. MainBiz Association

His approach is also evident in partnerships. Although GS25 and 7-Eleven have reached out, Foodcore has remained committed to distributing exclusively through CU for convenience store sales. BGF also highly values his trustworthiness. The relationship with Yonsei Milk remains strong. CEO Kim emphasized, "We are preparing unreleased products with added collagen and omega-3 ingredients under the Swelly brand, but our relationship with Yonsei Milk remains close."

This Year Marks the Start of Exports, Taking 'Swelly' Global

Foodcore has designated this year as the first year of exports. In the fourth quarter of last year, the company began exporting Swelly to six countries, including the United States, Germany, and Taiwan, achieving sales of 1.4 billion KRW. Foodcore is also conducting additional export negotiations with companies in 20 countries, having completed three rounds of meetings with a local Japanese company. The sales target for this year is 150 billion KRW. To meet overseas demand, Foodcore will launch an automated cream bread production line on the second floor of its Anseong factory in Gyeonggi Province in October, investing 8 billion KRW. The company is also considering building a new factory on an additional 3,300-square-meter site acquired nearby.