As Sungsimdang, undisputedly Daejeon's most famous bakery, continues its remarkable commercial success, the city has officially added bread to its representative local cuisine brand "Taste of Daejeon," drawing significant attention.
The influx of visitors to Sungsimdang has created spillover benefits for other bakeries in Daejeon, effectively reshaping the city's culinary landscape, according to analysts.
Daejeon Metropolitan City announced on January 15 that it had completely overhauled its representative food lineup for the first time in 26 years, officially launching the new brand "Taste of Daejeon." At the "2026 1st Daejeon Representative Food Development Committee," the city designated Daejeon bread, kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), and dubu-duruchigi (stir-fried tofu with pork) as the "Top 3 Tastes of Daejeon."
This marks the first revision since the city designated the "Daejeon 6 Flavors" in 2000, which included Sutgol naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles), Gujeuk acorn jelly, Daecheongho freshwater fish spicy stew, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), dolsotbap (stone pot rice), and seolleongtang (ox bone soup).
The city restructured its representative food system to reflect changing dining trends and citizen preferences. Based on expert consultations and preliminary citizen surveys—which ranked kalguksu first, bread second, and dubu-duruchigi third—the city identified 11 candidates including the original six flavors before making final selections.
In combined online and offline surveys with 4,314 participants, Daejeon bread, kalguksu, and dubu-duruchigi all ranked among the top choices. These foods received approval rates of 68 percent online and 81 percent offline. The brand name "Taste of Daejeon" won 61 percent support and was chosen as the final designation, with three items selected as representative foods.
"This revision is significant because we moved away from relying solely on expert judgment to selecting representative foods based on citizen participation," said Choi Dong-gyu, Director of Sports and Health at Daejeon Metropolitan City. "We will systematically develop the 'Taste of Daejeon' brand centered on Daejeon bread, kalguksu, and dubu-duruchigi to establish them as Daejeon's signature food tourism resources."
The Sungsimdang Effect
Sungsimdang, which opened in 1956 as a steamed bun shop in front of Daejeon Station, has become the city's landmark destination attracting more than 10 million visitors annually.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, Rosso, the company operating Sungsimdang, posted revenue of 262.9 billion won ($192 million) last year, up 35.7 percent from the previous year. Operating profit rose 34.5 percent to 64.3 billion won during the same period, with an operating margin reaching 24.4 percent.
The growth trajectory has been remarkable. Revenue increased steadily from 48.8 billion won in 2020 to 62.8 billion won in 2021, 81.7 billion won in 2022, and 124.3 billion won in 2023. Operating profit also climbed from 15.4 billion won in 2022 to 31.5 billion won in 2023, 47.8 billion won in 2024, and 64.3 billion won in 2025.
Sungsimdang is also known as a "good bakery" for donating all unsold bread and pastries daily to nursing homes and childcare facilities. The bakery reportedly sends approximately 30 million won worth of bread to social welfare facilities each month.