One customer waited more than seven hours for a single slice. Sungsimdang, the landmark bakery in Daejeon, handed out free cake to 1,000 residents to mark its 70th anniversary.
The bakery held its "Sungsimdang 70th Birthday Cake Sharing" event starting at 2 p.m. on the 17th, the opening day of the 2026 Daejeon Bread Festival, in the front yard of the Sungsimdang Cultural Center in Eunhaeng-dong, Jung-gu, Daejeon. Visitors received a slice of "Kirsch Gamdong," a chocolate-and-cherry cake, along with flour milled from wheat the bakery grows itself.
Lim Young-jin, the head of Sungsimdang, said before the event that the support and affection of countless people had given the bakery a reason to come to Daejeon and had allowed it to help revive commerce in the city's old downtown and give courage to people in difficulty. "I am grateful to everyone who has shown us kindness over these 70 years," Lim added.
The area around the flagship store and the cultural center was crowded all day with people who came for the giveaway and weekend shoppers buying bread and cake. Visitors who had lined up before dawn exchanged warm greetings with staff as they collected their cake. Some photographed their slices, others ate them on the spot, and many posed for pictures with the venue in the background. One visitor who said they had traveled from Incheon waited more than seven hours from 6:30 a.m. before receiving a slice.
Sungsimdang began in October 1956 as a small steamed-bun shop in front of Daejeon Station. Founder Lim Kil-soon and his wife made steamed buns from two sacks of flour received as relief aid, and the shop grew over 70 years into a nationally known bakery. Even so, Sungsimdang still operates stores only in Daejeon.
Revenue has climbed steeply each year even without expanding nationwide. Figures released in April showed revenue of 262.9 billion won ($183 million) last year, up about 35.7% from 193.7 billion won in 2024. Operating profit reached 64.3 billion won.
In 2023, Sungsimdang posted revenue of 124.3 billion won, becoming the first single-brand bakery that is not a franchise to surpass 100 billion won in annual sales. It has more than doubled that figure in just two years.