▲ Iksan Coco Meal / CEO Ryu In-chul

Iksan Coco Meal is famous for its catchline 'healthy bakery and excellent bakery'. CEO Ryu In-chul and his staff are busy in the afternoon as customers normally flock in.

Ryu ran One Top Bakery near Wonkwang University for 20 years and turned the bakery as one of the best tourist attractions in Iksan. But he recently relocated it to Jangsin-ri, Osan-myeon of the same city with a new name Coco Meal. 

A little bit remote from the city center, the bakery added the feel of slow life. The three story-building boasts a large parking lot, a rooftop and neat interior. 

Like its fame for excellent quality and taste, Coco Meal uses the fresh ingredients, low fat milk and butter and naturally fermented lactobacillus. 

It is second to none when it comes to hygiene and handling of the food and coffee beans are the same ones used at Paul Bassett with standard 25g extract. 

Ryu studied bakery at Korea Hotel Technical College and deepened his skills at Bellouet Conseil and Le Cordon Bleu in France and at Nihon Kashi and Tokyo Confectioinery School in Japan. 

He has served as the president of the Korea Confectionery Masters Association and a number of board members of various related associations as well as judges of skills competitions home and abroad. 

His contribution to development of Korean bakery industry was well recognized that he received the 2020 Korea Value Management Award held by the Herald Business in the category of master baker. 

Formerly, he won a ministerial citation from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, 3 times ministerial citations from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and many more major citations. He listed his name in the Korean CEO 100 and published a book <Ryu's The Dream of Patissier>. 

A man of good heart, Ryu has actively engaged in donations. He made donations to families of Sewol ferry victims, people suffered from heavy snow in Gangwon Province and recently blood donation for COVID-19 infected people.