"Korean-style cake can also be a model for K-dessert."
CMO (chief marketing officer and executive director) Lim Hye-sun of Twosome Place said this at the 2025 Foodtech & Trend Conference held on the 23rd at the Westin Josun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul.
The event was hosted by ChosunBiz and sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, bringing together major food companies, Start - Up, and academic experts to share rapidly changing global food trends and directions for technological innovation.
Lim said, "We should not think of K-dessert only in our own way. Abroad, even tteokbokki is regarded as 'pasta.' In that sense, Korean-style cakes such as Twosome's flagship product 'Seucho-saeng' (strawberry chocolate fresh cream) could also have a chance overseas," adding, "In particular, Korean-style fresh cream cake is a representative K-dessert with taste, visual completeness, and technical stability."
Lim went on, "It is rare overseas to ice an entire cake with fresh cream or to top it with raw strawberries, but Korea's strength lies in the sophistication of its aesthetics based on high-quality raw milk and excellent strawberry varieties."
Lim said, "We plan to enter the United States next year, and I believe we can win over local palates with Korean-style cakes. Not only Seucho-saeng but also Korean-style fruit cakes piled high with fruit can gain popularity."
Twosome Place currently sells about 10 million whole cakes annually in Korea, leading the 'dessert cafe' market. Lim said, "In the fiercely competitive domestic market with more than 100,000 cafes, the reason Twosome has been able to maintain growth of over 10% is thanks to 'reverse marketing that reinterpreted cake not as an accessory to coffee but as a flagship product,'" adding, "We flipped the market's gaze with a strategy that puts dessert, rather than coffee, at the center of the brand."
Citing the example of Seucho-saeng, Twosome's signature product, Lim said, "Seucho-saeng, named directly by consumers, is the only product in the cake category that is called by a proper noun," adding, "Marketing centered on this name has formed an emotional bond with consumers and established Twosome as a premium dessert brand."
Twosome has recently been expanding into the "tech-based dessert" space through collaborations with Porsche and Johnnie Walker. Lim said, "We have built a system that enables mass production of intricately designed cakes by using 3D molds and the pistole (spray) technique," explaining, "Both the Blue Label collaboration product and the soon-to-be-launched Hennessy collaboration product are creations realized on a Foodtech basis."
Lim said, "Foodtech is not only about hardware; software sensibility is also important," adding, "Through social listening (social data analysis), we track and analyze the traces consumers leave in the digital space every day." Lim added, "By identifying in real time how keywords like Twosome and Seucho-saeng are mentioned on social platforms, we can read changes in consumer perception and the context of the market at the same time."
Lim also mentioned the use of AI. Lim said, "We are testing virtual advertising content created by combining 3D technology and AI without shooting," adding, "The era of 'AI virtual advertising,' which enables rapid response to trends while reducing production costs, has already begun."
Lim said, "Korea's dessert industry already has competitive aesthetics and technological prowess in the global market," adding, "We will continue marketing that combines technology and emotion so that K-desserts, including cake, can stand at the center of global culinary culture on their own, not on the fringes of Korean cuisine or K-food."