Salt bread for 990 won? YouTuber irks bakers with pop-up store selling cheap baked goods.

YouTuber Syuka, real name Jeon Seok-jae, operator of the popular finance channel “Syuka World,” apologized Monday after facing criticism for selling bread at unusually low prices through a weekend pop-up store.

YouTuber Syuka World introduces ETF Bakery during a live stream on Aug 31. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

YouTuber Syuka, real name Jeon Seok-jae, operator of the popular finance channel “Syuka World,” apologized Monday after facing criticism for selling bread at unusually low prices through a weekend pop-up store.

“I thought people would like it if I made cheap bread, but that wasn’t the case,” Syuka said during a livestream on Sunday. “I’m sorry,” he added, bowing his head.

Syuka clarified that his intention was not to attack small business owners.

“I’ve never criticized self-employed bakers — I’m a self-employed person myself,” he said. “I only meant to talk about the structural problems in bread pricing, but it was interpreted differently, which is unfortunate. If anyone felt offended, I believe it was a misunderstanding.”

Syuka World opened a temporary “ETF Bakery” pop-up store in collaboration with interior design firm Glow Seoul in Seongsu-dong, Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, on Saturday. The bakery offered 35 types of bread and cakes at prices well below market rates, including salt bread, baguettes and bagels at 990 won each, loaves of bread at 1,990 won, red bean buns at 2,930 won and a No. 2 size peach cake at 18,900 won.

The project was billed as a response to “breadflation” — rising bread prices amid inflation. Syuka World also released content analyzing the cost structure and raw material expenses behind bread pricing.

Customers crowd YouTuber Syuka’s ETF Bakery pop-up store at Glow Seongsu in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, on Aug. 31. [NEWS1]

Costs were reduced by sourcing ingredients directly and standardizing bread shapes to minimize labor, according to the YouTuber. Prices were calculated based on “margin cost” rather than “margin rate,” he explained, so that even if production costs increased, the price passed on to consumers would rise less sharply.

However, some bakery owners argued that the project unfairly portrayed other bakers as profiteers.

“Even if you sell 1,000 or 10,000 salt breads a day, you could never price them at 990 won,” read one post on an online self-employed business forum. “The cost of one bread alone is 1,000 won.”

“The problem isn’t the retail price, it’s the distribution system,” one bakery owner commented. “Yet it feels like small shop owners are always being dragged into the blame.”

“‘A YouTuber sold salt bread for 990 won — why are yours so expensive?’ a customer said before leaving,” wrote another baker. “I wake up at 4:30 a.m. to start baking, and it just feels meaningless.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY JANG GU-SEUL [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]