[Report] "Frozen Dough Is the Future Growth Engine"... Samyang Corporation's Bold Move

Frozen Dough Manufacturing at Samyang Corporation's Incheon Plant No. 2

Annual Production Capacity of 5,000 Tons

Key Technologies: Lamination and Rapid Freezing

The expanded frozen raw dough production facility at Samyang Corporation's Incheon Plant 2. Provided by Samyang Corporation.

On May 7, Samyang Corporation's Incheon Plant 2 in Jung-gu, Incheon, was so cold that it felt chilly rather than just cool. Since high temperatures can damage the texture of frozen dough, the facility maintains the temperature at 14 to 16 degrees Celsius. Combined with the cold air from the rapid freezing process, which reaches minus 30 degrees Celsius, the perceived temperature felt even lower.

Marking its 102nd anniversary, Samyang Corporation has identified "frozen dough" as its next-generation growth engine. For over a century, the company has produced food ingredients such as flour and sugar, but as the population continues to decline and single-person households become more common, the consumption of these basic ingredients has steadily decreased.

The cafe and bakery industry has recently been working to simplify the baking process and improve operational efficiency in response to workforce shortages, rising labor costs, and limitations in kitchen space and equipment within stores. To address these challenges and secure a new core growth driver, Samyang Corporation has chosen to focus on the frozen dough business. Frozen dough is bread dough that is frozen, and it can be used to make a variety of products such as pies, pastries, sandwich loaves, and scones.

At the expanded frozen dough production facility at Samyang Corporation's Incheon Plant No. 2, the process of folding and unfolding the dough and butter multiple times is taking place. Provided by Samyang Corporation.

With the expansion of premium bakery consumption, such as croissants and pastries, Samyang Corporation has identified a growing demand for high-quality doughs that consistently deliver reliable results. As a result, the company is shifting its food ingredient distribution business to focus on frozen dough, aiming to strengthen its competitiveness. Samyang Corporation supplies frozen dough to companies such as Shinsegae Food, and expects the frozen dough market, which was worth approximately 990 billion won last year, to grow to about 1.3 trillion won by 2030.

Samyang Corporation invested a total of 52 billion won to expand its production capacity at Incheon Plant 2, allocating 30.8 billion won for the expansion of the frozen dough line and 21.2 billion won for the logistics warehouse (investment made before the plant expansion). The company also launched its frozen dough brand, "Prepang." In 2018, Samyang Corporation completed a pilot frozen dough factory at this site, but by 2021, production facilities had already reached their maximum operating capacity. As a result, the company expanded the frozen dough plant last year and began full-scale production in April. The expanded frozen dough plant has an annual production capacity of 5,000 tons, with current production levels at around 1,500 to 2,000 tons per year.

The expanded frozen dough line, built on the fourth floor of the logistics center at Incheon Plant 2 and covering a space of 1,600 pyeong (approximately 5,289 square meters), is largely automated. The frozen dough production process proceeds in the following order: mixing ingredients → mixing → lamination (the process of folding and rolling out the dough and butter multiple times to create thin layered sheets) → resting (stabilization) → shaping → fermentation → rapid freezing → post-processing (such as packaging). With automated processes, just five employees are able to manage the entire production line.

The process of folding and rolling out the dough and butter multiple times to create thin layers stacked upon one another. Provided by Samyang Corporation.

The essential ingredient, flour, is automatically transferred from the storage silos into a 240-kilogram mixing machine, while butter and other ingredients are weighed and added via conveyor belt to create the dough. The dough is then sent to the lamination process, which is critical to the quality of pastries such as croissants. To create the 24 layers required for frozen dough, the process is divided into three stages: the first creates four layers, the second does not add layers, and the third completes the remaining layers. After this, the dough is transferred onto eight belts for resting, where it is rolled out from a thickness of 35mm down to 4.12mm.

Byungjin Kwon, a master baker and manager, explained, "Most of the market currently demands frozen dough with 24 layers, so that's our standard production. However, if a customer requests 16 layers, we have the capability to accommodate that as well."

After resting, the dough is cut, rolled, or folded into the final product shapes, such as triangles or rectangles, depending on the product specifications. The next stage is fermentation; currently, Samyang Corporation only produces RTP (Ready to Proof) products, which are frozen before fermentation. RTB (Ready to Bake) products, which are frozen after fermentation, require more advanced processes. While the facility is equipped for RTB production, it is still in the testing phase. Frozen dough that has reached the RTB stage can be baked immediately after thawing.

Dough completed up to the fermentation or shaping stage is rapidly frozen at minus 30 degrees Celsius. Rapid freezing is a crucial step that determines the core competitiveness of frozen dough quality, as it minimizes the size of ice crystals, helping to preserve the dough structure and yeast activity more stably. According to Samyang Corporation, this process ensures that, even after thawing, the dough's texture and consistency are maintained, making it suitable for long-term storage and distribution.

Yang Cheolho, Head of Food Material Distribution BU, commented, "Many people think frozen dough is just cheap bread, but we produce the highest quality achievable by humans at our facility. Consumers will soon recognize the difference. Although Prepang is more expensive than competitors, the quality gap between Samyang Corporation and other domestic companies has already widened significantly."

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