88 New Baeknyeon Gaegae Selected Including Eulmildae

Century-Old Shops Meet Through Meal Kits, Expanding Digitalization of Small Businesses

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Eighty-eight new century-old businesses, including the cold noodle restaurant 'Eulmildae' in Seoul and the bibimbap restaurant 'Gajok Hoegwan' in Jeonju, have been newly selected. Next year, plans are underway to commercialize century-old business products as home meal kits and expand online sales channels.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 23rd that it has additionally selected 88 century-old businesses in the fourth round this year. With this, the total number of century-old businesses nationwide has increased to 724.

The century-old business project has been promoted by the Ministry since 2018 to discover and spread successful models of excellent small business owners with over 30 years of business experience. The evaluation criteria consist of comprehensive items such as managerial innovation capabilities, product and service distinctiveness, and business sustainability. The Ministry introduced a 'National Recommendation System' this year, and among the 88 newly selected businesses, 43 (48.9%) were directly recommended by citizens who had experienced these small business owners, while among all 724 century-old businesses, 186 (25.6%) were recommended by the public.

The newly selected century-old businesses include renowned local restaurants. Eulmildae, located in Mapo-gu, Seoul, has been loved for 50 years by the second generation for its consistently mild and deep-flavored Pyongyang cold noodles. Gajok Hoegwan in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, is known as a representative bibimbap specialty restaurant operated by three generations, including the founder who was designated as 'Jeonju Food Master No. 1.'

Additionally, century-old businesses operated by artisans in various fields were selected. Sungsim Yegongwon in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is famous for producing traditional crafts such as window frames, wooden utensils, and wooden furniture using traditional handcraft methods by a Seoul intangible cultural asset artisan. Deokhwa Food, located in Saha-gu, Busan, was established by a master in the fisheries field of Korea, and its low-salt 'Deokhwa Myeongran' made with traditional fermentation techniques is widely known.

Next year, the dedicated budget for century-old businesses will be significantly expanded to 5.9 billion KRW. It will be used for improving aging business environments, supporting online and offline sales channels, providing certificates and plaques, among other purposes. The Ministry also plans to support the development and sales of meal kits incorporating century-old business recipes in connection with the 'Caring Companies' project.

Fresh Easy developed and commercialized a meal kit product of Nakji Jeongol (octopus hot pot) from Ihwa Hoejip located in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do. As early as the year-end and New Year holidays, four products from century-old businesses are scheduled to be launched through online platforms, and overseas expansion is also being pursued through Korean supermarkets and online platforms in the United States. Emart, having received a good response to its previously launched Odeng Sikdang Budae Jjigae, is also pushing for in-house product development aiming for a release in the first half of next year to expand the century-old business product lineup. Market Kurly also plans to support the expansion of sales channels for century-old business products in the non-face-to-face and online distribution market.

Jo Juhyun, Director of the Small Business Policy Office at the Ministry, said, "With the expansion of the online non-face-to-face economy sector after COVID-19, collaboration between century-old businesses and caring companies will be a great help in digital transformation such as product development, sales support, and online advancement for small business owners," adding, "Going forward, the Ministry plans to strengthen support for digital transformation of small business owners and traditional markets through online sales channel support for century-old businesses, expansion of smart stores and smart workshops, the Digital Commercial District Renaissance project, and activation of live commerce and subscription economy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.