Yang Joon-hyuk, known as the 'God of the Bream,' revealed his business situation.
On the broadcast of KBS2's 'Boss's Ears Are Donkey Ears' on the 31st, Chef Jung Ho-young was seen visiting a bream farm in Pohang.
That day, Chef Jung noted, "It gets expensive in winter, so I intended to make a contract in advance when it was cheaper," adding, "I'm a star chef, so I generally don't go far, but it took me 5 hours to get there." Later, the owner of the farm appeared, and it was Yang Joon-hyuk, who had transformed from the 'God of Baseball' to the 'God of the Bream.' Yang Joon-hyuk remarked, "It's been 20 years since I started (the bream farm). The size is about 3,000 pyeong."
He continued, "I raise the bream as precious as my own children, with great care," and added, "The annual sales of the farm are about 3 billion won. I invest everything I have, getting only 3 hours of sleep to manage it." Yang Joon-hyuk, who stated he has known Chef Jung for about 6 months since meeting on the program, revealed that it now costs about 70,000 to 80,000 won for one bream, which caught attention. He noted that due to the intense heat this past summer, the sea temperature rose, leading to fewer bream. This was an increase of 2 to 3 times compared to last year.
When Chef Jung requested, "Can you give it to me cheaper?" Yang responded, "Our bream isn't given to just anyone. It can't be done just with words," explaining that he wakes up every day at 2:30 a.m. to participate in the auction, adding, "These days I have a baby too," which attracted attention.
While preparing frozen mackerel feed for the bream, Yang Joon-hyuk stated, "The feed costs 2 million won per day," shocking viewers with the revelation that the monthly feed cost alone amounts to 20 million won. As they continued to feed the fish, Chef Jung inquired, "Did it go well from the start after retirement?" Yang replied, "I faced many failures at first. The sea bream, rockfish, and abalone all died. I failed in all those ventures. I spent all I earned during my athlete days."
However, he said he has now completely become a fish farmer. He added, "I have all the necessary licenses. I am also part of the Gu-ryeong Po Association. No one can do it but me. I have held the fishery for 20 years," mentioning that, "The farm is a little bigger than a baseball field. It was artificially made by breaking stones. There are only 11 of these in Korea," expressing confidence.
The next place he went was a café. Yang Joon-hyuk operates the fish farm, sashimi restaurant, and even a café on the second floor. The shop featured congratulatory wreaths from acquaintances including Kim Jong-min, Choi Soo-jong, Lee Chan-won, and Kim Seong-joo, which caught attention. However, Yang revealed that prior to farming bream, he had operated a fish farm for rockfish and abalone, but none were successful. He lamented, "When I released the fry, I put in 2 million at a time. If I bought a building in Seoul during my athlete days, I could have had a building even bigger than Seo Jang-hoon's."
When Chef Jung asked, "Didn't you earn quite a bit?" referring to the time when his maximum salary was 2.4 billion won, Yang Joon-hyuk replied, "I lost 5 billion won and now I need to earn 10 billion won," recalling, "I also worked in steak and fresh fish, and I did bean noodle soup and sports pubs as well."
In response, Chef Jung confessed, "I lost 500 million won due to COVID-19," to which Yang noted, "5 billion won is merely so-so. I lost about 30 to 40 million won monthly," adding, "Now my wife has a baby, and since she's managing the café too, I feel both sorry and grateful to her."
He also mentioned that his whole family is dedicated to the fish farm business. His wife noted, "My father earned a barista certification because he's running the café. My mom comes down from Seoul every weekend to take care of the baby. We really can't afford to fail anymore, so we must not fail again."
[Photo] Broadcast capture.
[OSEN]