Friday at a Namyangju Side Dish Shop: Why Customers Line Up for 500 Won Closing Discounts

A side dish shop operating in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, is known as a place many customers visit every Friday. According to the EBS 'Extreme Jobs' video, this place follows the principle of cooking and selling about 40 different types of side dishes fresh every day. The prices of the side dishes, which usually range between 1,500 won and 2,000 won, drop as low as 500 won when the weekly Friday closing event begins. To exhaust all the side dishes cooked that day, they sell them at significantly reduced prices, and customers have been captured lining up to match this time slot.

A division of labor for a family of five starting at 5 AM

The day at the side dish shop begins every morning at 5 AM with the arrival of the husband's younger brother, who is in charge of preparing ingredients. In the video, a total of five family members—a couple, the younger brother, and two daughters—work together through a division of labor. The younger brother prepares vegetable ingredients such as bok choy, while the youngest daughter is tasked with seasoning five types of seasoned vegetable side dishes, ranging from chwinamul to enoki mushrooms and bean sprouts. When making stir-fried dishes, the father helps with physically demanding tasks, such as preparing the oil. All tasks, from selecting the types of side dishes to choosing ingredients, are carried out under the direction of Lee Yun-ok, and the eldest daughter, who arrives around 8:30 AM, is in charge of packaging the side dishes and taking sales orders.

Utilizing seasonal vegetables like gourd, old cucumber, and eggplant grown directly on the farm

To reduce ingredient costs and provide healthy side dishes, this shop grows its own vegetables. The family grows various seasonal vegetables such as gourd, old cucumber, eggplant, chili peppers, and beans in their fields to use as side dish ingredients. The video shows them picking gourds directly from the field to be used as ingredients for long-arm octopus yeonpotang. The main sales method is delivery sales through an internet community. The youngest daughter takes photos of the side dishes and uploads them to the community in real-time to certify that they were cooked that day. The cooked side dishes are stored in the refrigerator to prevent spoilage, and they conduct both delivery orders and in-store sales simultaneously.

Nutritious food sets for the peak season of Boknal and the chaos of sell-outs

During specific periods such as Malbok, the workload surges due to the preparation of nutritious foods. The video shows the entire family working together to wash and prepare chickens to prepare 100 servings of Samgyetang. Nutritious food sets are prepared, consisting of Samgyetang, Gallaktang (containing ribs and long-arm octopus), kimchi geotjeori, and kkakdugi. Especially during the summer, they take measures such as individually packaging green onions to prevent the broth from spoiling. Despite these efforts, situations occur where delivery orders alone reach 120 per day, or items like stir-fried perilla leaves and Samgyetang sell out early.