Seoul City Recruiting 15 Participants for 2nd Term of 'Cheongnyeon Cook Business Center'

Operating a Course Specialized in 'Shared Kitchen Delivery Startup' with Expanded Small Group Menu Development Mentoring and Program Improvements Including Store Experience from Early Education

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Youth Cook Business Center, which opened in May to nurture practical young entrepreneurs in the food service industry, announced on the 11th that it is recruiting 15 students for the 2nd term of the ‘Shared Kitchen Delivery Startup Course.’ Recruitment will continue until August, and the program will run for four months from September to December.

In the first term, which started in May, 15 teams were selected and completed a total of 14 theoretical lectures and 15 menu development small-group mentoring sessions. Through small-group mentoring, a total of 34 types of menus were transferred, and referring to the transferred menus, three participants from the first term are preparing specific tasks such as commercial area analysis necessary for startup, aiming to start a business within the year. In addition, most are preparing for food service-related competitions and government-supported projects.

The first distinguishing feature of the center, compared to existing food service startup support projects, is that it supports in-depth competency development by setting a specific startup theme. The first term specialized in ‘Shared Kitchen Delivery Startup’ as the education theme, which is a strategy to focus education on fields where young entrepreneurs can enter the market with small capital, experience startup success with relatively low risk, and then aim to expand the business. Following the first term, the second term will also operate the ‘Shared Kitchen Delivery Startup’ course once again, and for the second term, based on the experience from the first term, 20% more small-group menu development mentoring will be added.

The second feature is the operation of a store experience program. Especially tailored to the ‘Shared Kitchen Delivery Startup’ course, it is operated in connection with private delivery-type shared kitchens to allow direct experience of the delivery startup field. For the second term, the store experience program will be run concurrently from the beginning of the course to help participants gain field experience. Additionally, even after completing the center’s program, practical benefits necessary for startups such as exemption from deposit and rent discounts at private delivery-type shared kitchens will be supported, providing post-completion follow-up management.

The overall curriculum consists of theoretical and practical education. The theoretical education is divided into a ‘general course’ essential for food service startups, such as commercial area analysis, cost calculation, and marketing, and an ‘advanced course’ aligned with the specialized education purpose, such as delivery item planning, delivery platform utilization, and shared kitchen location analysis, to enhance educational efficiency. Also, during the course, special lectures by successful entrepreneurs or cooking classes by famous chefs are arranged to motivate students to complete the education.

The practical education consists of a ‘small-group mentoring’ course, which provides a total of 15 sessions focusing on startup menus selected through a demand survey of the selected students, and a ‘customized mentoring’ course, which offers up to three sessions per individual student on topics they wish to pursue.

Meanwhile, the center plans to support branding and design for all prospective entrepreneurs to provide practical help for startups. They operate a mock investment pitch demo day where experts are invited to evaluate and provide feedback on business plans, and also prepare programs to check the final preparation status before startup, such as holding a ‘taste testing competition’ that offers verification opportunities for prototypes created as a result of consulting.

Kim Cheol-hee, head of the Seoul Future Youth Planning Group, said, “We will continuously think and research to develop educational programs that can increase the success rate of startups.”

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