▲ Gwon Ja-yeon, CEO of Jayeon Hyangki (or Nature’s Scent)

From failure to success
Hadong County is one of the three plum plantations alongside Gwangyang and Suncheon cities. Nicely nested in Hadong County, Jayeon Hyangki has focused on local specialties such as plum and Daebong persimmon and spread its excellence in processed foods for many years. CEO Gwon and his husband were driving on their business in Seoul without a stop until the unfortunate fire burned down the factory to ashes. Neither compensation nor insurances were paid for some reason and she, with her husband, had to pack up what they have left and head back down to her hometown: Hadong County. Back in hometown, Gwon knew nothing other than processing dried laver but turned her eye to purchase plums to sell online. She was shocked by the sheer amount of order which amounted 10 tons a month and being unable to fix the distribution issue she lost one hundred million won and closed down the business. One day, she had an occasion to visit a factory where she left some plums and found them being turned into yellow. At that very moment, a bright idea struck her and she started to use them to make into processed food. 

Spreading excellence of Korean local specialties to the world 
“Plums are known to prevent food poisoning, improve constitution and liver function, and help digestion. They show outstanding effectiveness for diarrhea and constipation and deter the growing of dysentery, typhoid, colon bacillus and vibrio, and purify the blood, and makes the skin healthy” says Gwon. She uses plums and fruits in the region to make processed foods of more than 30 kinds such as plum extract, wormwood tea, persimmon and green tea vinegars, soy bean paste, dried Daebong persimmon and seasoned laver. Hadong green tea pollack roe seasoned laver, in particular, is praised by tourists of both Koreans and foreigners alike at Incheon International Airport Terminal 2. In the meantime, Jayeon Hyangki obtained ISO22000, ISO14001 and ISO9001 and has been on KBS Hometown Report and MBC Real Story to demonstrate its excellent taste and nutrients. “It is very important to see the products in the consumer’s view point. From this, we can draw the idea of how we make products, how we design and how we distribute. I and all the staff at Jayeon Hyangki will keep doing our best to provide healthy and tasty local specialties in Hadong.”