Busan is good

Busan Metropolitan City Launches “Beyond B-Star,” a Growth Project for Local Food and Beverage Businesses

내용

Busan Metropolitan City Mayor Park Heong-joon announced that the City will promote the “Beyond B-Star” project, an advanced support program for entrepreneur-type small food and beverage (F&B) businesses, to discover and foster local brands that represent Busan, and will recruit participating small business owners.

“Beyond B-Star” is a Busan-style brand growth program designed to help local brands that have grown in Busan develop into competitive brands in domestic and international markets by providing phased support for content development, business development, and market entry.

The execution title for 2026 is “Old Stores and Hip Stores,” which presents a new growth model for the local food and beverage sector by connecting long-established eateries that have preserved regional taste and culture with trend-conscious “hip” food and beverage venues as collaborative partners rather than competitors.

The City plans to document the history and philosophy of long-established eateries as content and brand assets, and to reinterpret them into menus, products, and pop-up formats based on the planning and execution capabilities of hip food and beverage venues, ultimately leading to tangible business outcomes.

The project will go beyond simple promotion or short-term events and will be pursued as a long-term growth model that links content production, menu and product development, pop-up and permanent operations, and overseas expansion.

Participating brands will assess their brand competitiveness based on verified data such as sales performance and customer responses during pop-up and permanent operations, and will also be able to explore opportunities for future business expansion and potential investment linkage.

The project will run for approximately ten months from March to December and will provide step-by-step support for brand growth through major venues including Busan Port Village (April–May), a permanent pop-up at the Busan International Financial Center (BIFC) (June), the “Bapsim Festival” in Utah, United States (September), and Christmas Village (December).

Operations will be handled by Food Travel Co., Ltd., which has successfully planned and operated major city food and beverage (F&B) festivals and local brand projects such as Busan Port Village and Christmas Village.

The City plans to enhance the quality of the project by leveraging the operating organization’s experience in brand discovery, pop-up operations, and promotion and marketing.

Eligible applicants include five teams of long-established eateries that have been in operation for at least 30 years or that represent regional taste and culture, and ten teams of hip food and beverage venues with trendy concepts. Hip food and beverage venues may apply regardless of years in operation or business scale.

Selected teams will receive support including brand documentary production, menu development consulting with participation from star chefs, and assistance with entering major domestic and international food and beverage (F&B) events.

Small business owners wishing to participate may apply via the online application links from February 9 to 20 (Old Stores: https://tally.so/r/81xWKo / Hip Stores: https://tally.so/r/RGoVy4), and the final selection results will be announced on February 27.

For more information related to the call for applications, inquiries may be directed to the Food Travel Co., Ltd. project operations team at hangyeol.kwak@foodtravel.kr.

Kim Kyung-duk, Assistant Mayor of Digital Economy Office, said, “As Busan enters the era of 3.5 million foreign tourists, this project is a growth initiative that expands the local food and beverage sector into content, business, and overseas markets by combining the history and value of Busan’s long-established eateries with the planning capabilities of hip food and beverage venues,” adding, “Through systematic support spanning content production, menu development, pop-up operations, and overseas expansion, we will continue to foster representative Busan food and beverage (F&B) brands.”