April 21, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The megahit Korean television drama “Bread, Love and Dreams” in 2010 features a Korean bakery chaebol’s illegitimate child overcoming all varieties of hardships with passion to make quality bread.

Although the main character Kim Tak-gu’s complicated family background is fictitious, his unyielding passion for bread and pastry originates from the real life story of Hur Young-in, chairman of SPC, the country’s largest confectionary group. 

Hur Young-in gives a speech at SPC Group’s 70th anniversary event in October 2015.

Hur is the undisputed “bread king” in Korea, running a number of widely popular bread and non-bread brands including Samlip, Shany, Paris Baguette, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins. The latest addition to this is Shake Shack Burger, the New York-based casual restaurant chain which opened here this summer to an explosive response from young, trend-conscious Koreans. 

A love affair with bread

Hur was born as the second son to Hur Chang-sung, who set up bakery Sangmidang in Hwanghae Province (now in North Korea) in the 1940s, and then later in Seoul. Sangmidang grew to a major food company, Samlip General Food, which in the 1960s hit the jackpot with its iconic cream-filled pastry.

Growing up surrounded by flour and fillings, the young Hur was inspired by his father to seek a leading role in the nation’s bakery industry.

In 1981, the junior Hur got himself enrolled in the American Institute of Baking in Kansas, and learned the art of breadmaking for a year and a half.  

In 1983, after the completing the AIB course, Hur took over operations of Shany, Samlip’s high-end line. He launched a French-style bakery, Paris Croissant, in 1986, judging that mass-produced cream-filled buns were no longer enough to satisfy customers. Two years later, he opened the bakery chain Paris Baguette, which is now Korea’s No. 1 bakery franchise.

Hur also brought foreign food franchises to Korea, such as Baskin Robins and Dunkin’ Donuts.

In 2002, he took over Shany’s parent company Samlip General Food, which was facing a financial crisis under control of his elder brother. In 2004, Hur established SPC Group, which oversees both Samlip, Shany and scores of other food franchises.

This July, Hur successfully brought in America’s roadside burger joint Shake Shack Burger to Seoul.

Hur’s personal wealth is not known, since a chunk of his assets are in unlisted stocks of SPC companies.

But his fortune exceeds 580 billion won, given that he holds 64.5 percent of Paris Croissant, the biggest shareholder of Samlip, the only SPC unit whose shares are publicly traded.

America’s business and financial news magazine Forbes estimates his net worth to be 1.7 trillion won ($1.6 billion). The magazine named him as a billionaire this year. 

By Hong Seung-wan, Cheon Ye-seon, Lee Sun-young, Yoon Hyun-jong, Min Sang-seek and Song Ji-won
/The Super Rich Team (jiwon.song@heraldcorp.com)