The two sons of SPC chairman Hur Young-in are assuming bigger roles in management as the Korean food giant is aggressively expanding its business at home and abroad.

In what pundits view as preparations for a transfer of management, the elder son Jin-su and second son Hee-su were registered in May as non-executive board members of its flagship and only stock market-listed affiliated, Samlip Food Corp.

The 4 trillion-won ($3.6 billion) food behemoth has 12 brands, including Paris Baguette and Paris Croissant.

The appointments came two months after Jin-su was promoted to senior executive of Paris Croissant, the de facto holding company of SPC, and his younger brother was named executive of BR Korea, which operates joint ventures such as Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts and others. 


Jin-su and Hee-su started their careers in 2005 and in 2007, respectively.

SPC said their appointments to the Samlip board were made to impose a greater sense of responsibility in the sons, who are also major shareholders of the business enterprise. Hur Jin-su owns 20.2 percent of Paris Croissant, second to his father who has 63.5 percent, while Hee-su owns 12.7 percent.

Rumors have it that the two brothers might compete for the throne, since their father was also a second son and had to fight his way to the top.

Hur Young-in, son of Samlip founder Hur Chang-sun who opened a small bakery named Sangmidang in 1945, was given the second affiliate Shany, but bought his older brothers’ lot, Samlip, in 2002, with the success of Paris Baguette.

Since then, Young-in has turned the rather modest pastry company into a business enterprise operating more than 2,600 stores worldwide. The senior Hur earlier this year proclaimed that the company will become a leading global company with business expanding to more than 60 countries and 3,600 stores by 2020.

Paris Baguette, the company’s flagship bakery brand, has opened branches in the U.S., China, Vietnam and Singapore. It recently opened two stores in Paris, a capital for pastries and where the brand’s name came from, and received warm reviews from the locals.

“Because SPC became such an important business group during Hur Young-in’s reign, it will be very difficult for anyone to emulate his success. It will be a tough choice,” an industry insider said.

“Chairman Hur is only 66 years old and he still has a lot to achieve in the company. There is no visible plan for any inheritance at the moment,” an SPC spokesman said.

By Bae Ji-sook  (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)