85: Chapter 85 Five-Year Plan

In mid-June, Seoul's rainy season hadn't arrived yet, but the air was already stiflingly humid. The strategic planning meeting had been going since nine in the morning until one in the afternoon, with only a fifteen-minute coffee break.

Chairman Wang Shunyi sat at the head of the table. He had flipped through the draft of the five-year plan in front of him so many times that the corners were curled. He flipped through it one last time from beginning to end, then pushed the document to the center of the table and had Kim Sang-woo distribute it to everyone.

"I've been thinking about this five-year plan since last month."

He leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice.

"From its founding until now, Shunyi Foods has been at war. Fighting the Kims, fighting Nongshim, fighting for the market, and fighting for channels. Now that the war is over, it's time to sit down and think about where we go next."

His gaze swept from Lee Jung-hoon to Park Jae-beom, from Kim Tae-ho to Park Jeong-ho, and finally landed on Kim Sang-woo. Kim Sang-woo was the Director of the Strategic Planning Department. He had been poached from Samsung Electronics at the end of last year, where he had spent eight years in strategic planning and handled several projects worth tens of billions.

Most of this draft was his work. Chairman Wang Shunyi had only changed the pages on vision and core values—not much, just changing 'Leading in Asia' to 'Leading in Korea, Significant in Asia,' and 'Globalization' to 'Internationalization.' It wasn't being conservative; it was being pragmatic.

Kim Sang-woo opened his copy of the document and cleared his throat.

"Chairman, I'll go through the overall framework first. The vision is to be Korea's leading food group with a significant position in the Asian market. The mission is to provide consumers with healthy, delicious, and convenient food. The core values are quality first, continuous innovation, customer first, and social responsibility."

He read in a flat tone, like he was reading an instruction manual.

Chairman Wang Shunyi interrupted him. "Does anyone have an issue with 'holding a significant position in the Asian market' in the vision?"

Lee Jung-hoon was the first to respond. "Chairman, no problem. But if it's just a 'significant position' and not a 'leading position,' isn't that a bit too conservative? The way consumers feel about 'significant' versus 'leading' is different."

Chairman Wang Shunyi looked at him. "Conservative? Do you know how big the Asian market is? Japan's Nissin, Thailand's MAMA, Indonesia's Indomie—which one of them isn't a local giant that's been deeply rooted for decades? If we can get a piece of the pie, we've won. Leading? Ask me again in ten years."

Lee Jung-hoon fell silent.

"Next." Chairman Wang Shunyi tilted his chin, signaling Kim Sang-woo to continue.

Kim Sang-woo flipped to the second page—Financial Goals.

"Phase one, 2025 to 2026: revenue target of three trillion won, market share of thirty-five percent. Phase two, 2027 to 2028: revenue of five trillion won, overseas market share of thirty percent. Phase three, 2029 to 2030: revenue of eight trillion won, overseas market share of fifty percent."

As soon as the numbers were out, the air in the conference room froze. Park Jeong-ho was the first to speak, but his voice was low, as if testing the waters.

"Aigoo, Chairman, eight trillion... Last year we were at 1.3 trillion. To sextuple in five years, the annual growth rate has to stay above forty percent. The food industry isn't the internet; this speed..."

He didn't say the second half, but the meaning was clear.

"Impossible?" Chairman Wang Shunyi said it for him. "Hey, check Sunyi's compound growth rate for the past three years. What was last year's compared to the year before?"

Park Jeong-ho lowered his head to flip through the documents. He knew; of course, he knew. The data was clearer in his head than on paper. Seventy-two percent.

"Three years in a row. We grew by seventy percent over the past three years, and you think growing by forty percent over the next five years is harder?"

Park Jeong-ho opened his mouth but said nothing. In front of him was Sunyi's sales curve for the past three years, as steep as a cliff. He had drawn it himself.

Kim Tae-ho raised his hand and asked about R&D investment. "Chairman, overseas expansion requires localized R&D. China, Southeast Asia, Japan—every market has different tastes. Developing products domestically and then trying to sell them there won't work."

He was the Director of the Product R&D Department, a veteran who had followed from the Kims, and he always spoke bluntly.

"The spiciness you tune in Korea has to be cut in half for Vietnam. The bibimbap you find delicious in Seoul, people in Tokyo will think the sauce is too thick. For every overseas market we enter, the R&D team needs to expand."

"Expand it. The budget will increase by twenty-five percent annually," Chairman Wang Shunyi said.

"By the third phase, the R&D team should expand from the current thirty people to one hundred and fifty. Director Kim, go back and make a specific recruitment plan for this and give it to me by the end of the month."

"In the second half of next year, we'll launch overseas market research. China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Japan—four countries simultaneously. Assign a team to each country, and the team leaders will report directly to me. This research can't be superficial; I want plans that can actually be implemented."

He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and wrote a few lines with a marker.

Product Innovation, Brand Building, Internationalization, Socialization.

After writing, he put down the pen and turned around. The marker wasn't capped, and the ink bled into a small dot on the table.

"The five-year plan isn't just a slogan on the wall; it's the direction for everything we do from now on. Sang-woo, organize this version after the meeting and send an all-staff email next week. Every department should write an implementation plan based on their own scope of business."

After six in the evening, he changed into a light jacket and drove to Park Min-ji's house. When she opened the door, she was wearing an apron, and her hands were still wet.

"You're here."

He changed into slippers and walked into the dining room. There were several dishes on the table, including a bowl of multi-grain rice. Brown rice, black rice, millet, and a few red beans were mixed into the white rice.

"Five-grain rice?" He sat down and looked at the bowl.

"Didn't you write in your strategic plan that you want to focus on healthy food? So I made this. Try it." She sat across from him and used her chopsticks to give him a piece of fried fish.

He took a bite of the rice, chewed a few times, and swallowed. "It's alright. A bit hard."

"It's my first time making it; I didn't get the timing right."

He ate half the rice in his bowl and finished the fish. She barely touched her chopsticks, just watching him eat. Since last year, she seemed to dislike eating out more and more, preferring to cook at home after work. Even if it was just a bowl of noodles or a pot of soup, it was better than a restaurant.

He had said a few times, "You're so tired from work, don't cook," but she said, "Cooking is relaxing." He believed her. Not really, but he didn't want to call her out.

"Is the five-year plan finished?" she asked.

"The draft is set. There are more details to follow."

"What's the revenue target?"

"Eight trillion. By 2030."

The ladle she was using to serve soup paused for a moment, then she nonchalantly brought the soup over and placed it in front of him. "Eight trillion? Do you know how much CJ Foods did last year?"

"7.8 trillion. Shunyi Foods did 1.3 trillion last year. That's a gap of 6.5 trillion."

She smiled, not because he was boasting, but because he remembered the numbers so clearly. "A gap of 6.5 trillion, and you want to catch up in five years?"

"I won't catch up. But the gap needs to narrow significantly."

"Are you sure?"

"No. We'll see how it goes."

He lowered his head to drink the soup. Beef soup, light and not salty, unlike the kind made in his company cafeteria. The cafeteria soup always had too much MSG, leaving him thirsty for a long time. Her soup wasn't like that. She never used MSG.

He put down the bowl and looked at her. "Minji, you were the one who told me to make a five-year plan. Now that it's done, why aren't you asking more?"

She picked up a piece of kimchi and chewed slowly, waiting for him to ask.

"Help me take a look; did I miss anything?"

She swallowed the kimchi and took a sip from the water glass on the table. "You did. Mergers and acquisitions. The five-year plan only mentions organic growth, not inorganic. Mergers and acquisitions are the norm in the food industry; you can't build everything from scratch. Some brands, some channels, some technologies—it's much cheaper to buy than to build them yourself."

He looked at her, put down his chopsticks, and pulled the draft out of the folder he had brought. He flipped to the page on 'International Layout.' Phase three. European market opportunities, mergers, acquisitions, integration—at the bottom right of page eighty-three, he had drawn a circle with the words 'M&A' inside and a question mark next to it. She saw it, her gaze lingering on that question mark.

"M&A. You wrote it."

"I wrote it. But I didn't include it in the core strategy. That's what I missed."

He closed the document and put it back in the folder. The sky outside was completely dark. She stood up, went to the kitchen, and brought over a plate of sliced fruit. Apples, pears, and oranges were cut into small pieces with toothpicks, arranged very neatly.

"Go back after you finish eating. You have work tomorrow."

"Yeah."

He wasn't in a hurry to leave. He ate most of the fruit. The apples were crisp, the pears were sweet, and the oranges were a bit sour. He frowned when he hit a sour one, and she smiled again.

As he was putting on his shoes, she leaned against the kitchen doorframe and watched him, her apron still on. He stood up and opened the door. The sensor light in the hallway turned on, and she said, 'Drive carefully.'

He nodded and left. The sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway for a while before disappearing, and the sensor light went out.

She closed the door, washed the dishes, and hung up her apron. The copy of the five-year plan draft was left on the dining table. She walked over and flipped to the last page, looking at his handwritten note next to the 'eight trillion' figure.

"Overseas M&A, Nissin? Campbell's?"

He had put the documents away, neatly stacked in the middle of the dining table. The lights were turned off. The room went dark, leaving only the dim yellow glow from the streetlights outside the window.

She stood for a moment, then drew the curtains.