How Daejeon evolved from 'city of no fun' to 'city of bread'

In 2019, Daejeon Metropolitan City made an unusual pitch to tourists, asking them to post their own tour flowchart for what it jokingly calls “Boring Daejeon.”

It works like a decision tree for a friend visiting Daejeon: answer “yes” or “no” to questions like “Can you invite them to your home?” and no matter the path, it always ends the same way: “Stop by Sungsimdang — a historic bakery nestled in the heart of Daejeon, then send them home.”

The joke reflects how Daejeon is widely seen, even by its own residents, as a “boring” city, a place considered to lack the standout attractions of comparably sized cities.

Yet last year the city drew 90.94 million visitors, the most since the Korea Tourism Data Lab began tracking the figures. Nearly half of those visits, 48.1 percent, were driven by food tourism.

Much of that draw is Daejeon's bakery scene, led by Sungsimdang, with a legacy that traces back decades to the city's history as a hub for flour-based foods.

After the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, the United States began sending free flour as relief aid. It was distributed nationwide from Daejeon, a transportation hub where rail lines linking Seoul to Busan and the Jeolla provinces intersect, leaving the city with an abundant flour supply.

Sungsimdang dates to 1956, when it opened in front of Daejeon Station. It was featured in the Michelin Green Guide Korea in 2011 and its reputation started to grow nationwide after its bread was served for breakfast during Pope Francis' 2014 visit to Korea.

Social media has accelerated that rise by spreading word of the bakery's value-priced bread, and sales followed. Sungsimdang posted 262.9 billion won ($189.4 million) in sales last year, up 35.7 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit reached 64.3 billion won, up 34.5 percent.

The growth has been consistent, with operating profit climbing by more than 10 billion won annually, from 15.4 billion won in 2022 to 31.5 billion won in 2023 and 47.8 billion won in 2024.

Last year's figure alone topped the combined operating profit of nationwide franchises Paris Baguette and Tous les Jours. Paris Baguette operator Sangmidang Holdings posted an operating profit of 26 billion won last year, while Tous les Jours operator CJ Foodville posted 28.2 billion won.

Bakers trained at Sungsimdang have gone on to open their own shops around the city, adding to a wave of high-quality, affordable bakeries that have turned Daejeon into a city of "ppangji sullye," a Korean term meaning "bread pilgrimage."

Park Yeon-jae, 17, made her own trip to Daejeon's bakeries last December, right after final exams.

“There are too many people on weekends and the wait is too long, so I picked a weekday I could go," Park said, adding that she visited bakeries scouted on social media beforehand.

“What's great about Daejeon is that the bakeries are all close together, so you can hit several in one trip ... If I have the time, I'd like to stay overnight and visit more bakeries.”

Stories like Park's illustrate a broader reinvention, offering a case study for cities beyond Seoul that are scrambling to survive regional decline. Some analysts say the boring city label and Sungsimdang have together reshaped Daejeon's local identity.

Yang Seon-hee, a professor of global culture content studies at Daejeon University, examined how that identity took shape by collecting 357 media reports that used the keywords “boring” and “Daejeon” from 2019 through 2025.

The study found that “boring” was actively used as a linguistic stimulant that sparked a new city image, while Sungsimdang, which gained national fame around the same time, served as a catalyst that diversified how Daejeon's local identity took shape.

The findings also suggest a wider point, with local identity traditionally shaped by public policy centered on government offices, but Daejeon showing how a private business and the sensory experience of consumption can come to symbolize a city.