Fussing over desserts

Cakes are latest obsession of Seoul's food lovers

By Yun Suh-young

In recent years, Seoulites have developed an obsession for coffee, evidenced by the ubiquitous branches of Starbucks and Caffe Bene and government data that shows the average adult drinks 1.5 cups a day.

Companies are now betting that this nation of ever-increasing caffeine addicts will pay more to have good cakes to complement their Americanos.

“Junior’s,” “Cheesecake Factory” and “Mon Chouchou’” are among the foreign cake brands generating buzz among dessert lovers. The Korean company “40192 Roll” is also receiving good reviews for its soft and delicately flavored roll cakes.

“I think the culture of having a cup of coffee and dessert after a meal has fully taken hold and this provides us with a growth opportunity,” said an official at Lotte Department Store, which recently added Junior’s to its already deep lineup of dessert franchises represented at its stores.

40192 Roll

“The Korean work culture is obviously intense, and I think there are many people who look to relieve stress through food, particularly sweet ones. Dessert counters are becoming more important in sales for department stores and there is increasing competition to bring in well-known international brands.”

Junior’s is a 64-year-old cake shop in New York that enjoys iconic status for its cheesecake. Its first Korean store opened at Lotte’s outlet in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, last week.

It opened another at the Hyundai Department Store in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, on Saturday and plans to open several more outlets by the end of the year, according to Burger Joint Korea, which handles the franchise’s local business.

Consumers here have been flocking to Junior’s stores, despite their cheesecakes being twice as expensive as the norm.

Cheesecake Factory, another American brand, launched its first Korean store last month at the Jamsil branch of Lotte Department Store in southern Seoul. A second branch opened last week at the Sogong-dong branch.

Cheesecake Factory

This month, 40192 Roll also opened a branch at the Sogong-dong Lotte, following the opening of its new flagship store in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul.

The roll cake shop is expected to compete with “Mon Chouchou,” a Japanese roll cake brand that has been immensely popular since its arrival last year.

Mon Chouchou, which started off with two franchise stores at Shinsegae Department Store in Gangnam and Hyundai Department Store in Apgujeong, now has a third flagship store “Salon de Mon Chouchou,” on Garosu-gil in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, which is a restaurant-type sit-in business.

For dessert brands, department stores are test zones because they can analyze customer satisfaction and their popularity and decide whether to open up independent stores.

“In our case, we started off with a small shop in Cheongdam-dong but we’re launching stores at department stores because we want more people to get access to the cakes. We plan to open more stores at department stores,” said an official at 40192 Roll.