Opening a second life after retirement with specialized meat processing skills

The Seoul 50 Plus Foundation's support program, which helps create sustainable jobs and design a successful second life for middle-aged and senior citizens in Seoul, has borne meaningful fruit.

The Bavaria State Meister School (CEO Yoo Byung-kwan) announced that it successfully held the completion ceremony and graduation project presentation for the ‘German Meister Deli & Meat Processing Technology Employment and Entrepreneurship Course,’ co-organized with the Seoul 50+ Foundation.

This training is a job training course offered by the Seoul 50 Plus Foundation’s Employment Academy for Middle-aged and Senior Citizens, designed to cultivate differentiated technical skills and the capacity to develop high-value-added menus for those considering starting a food service business or re-employment after retirement. Over a total of 206 hours (43 hours of theory and 163 hours of practical training), participants received detailed instruction ranging from traditional German handmade meat processing techniques to the practical skills required for opening and operating deli and bakery stores.

From Halloween parties to a Bavarian tavern feast… Four colorful graduation projects showcasing the technical skills of middle-aged professionals

At the graduation ceremony, the trainees, divided into four groups, garnered significant attention by showcasing handmade meat dishes they had personally developed and cooked. Each group combined German Meister meat processing techniques with a sense of seasonality and Korean food culture to create a table setting that was impeccable enough to serve as a menu item in an actual restaurant.

Group A’s ‘Halloween Deli’ created a unique Halloween party table setting featuring pumpkin carvings, mummy hot dogs made with Bratwurst, and spicy chorizo burgers.

Group B’s ‘Korean Autumn Deli’ presented an autumn course meal that combined German meat processing techniques with soy-marinated bulgogi sausages and seasonal ingredients such as pears and persimmons. The harmony of sweet and salty flavors stood out, starting with a salad featuring bulgogi batter familiar to Koreans shaped like a hamburger steak, followed by grilled bulgogi sausages served with bean sprouts and onions, and culminating in a dessert of yuzu jam and persimmon Greek yogurt to cleanse the palate.

Group C’s ‘Bavarian Tavern Feast’ created a shared meal capturing the warm atmosphere of a traditional Korean tavern by combining German sausages, Leberkäse skewers, Munich rice soup, and three-colored potato pancakes.

Group D’s ‘European Deli × Autumn Fondant’ created a colorful and abundant autumn deli set using seasonal ingredients based on German meat processing and European deli techniques.

These creations, which blended authentic German meat processing techniques with flavors familiar to Koreans and seasonal ingredients, demonstrated differentiated menu competitiveness that middle-aged and senior graduates can immediately utilize in the field of startups.

Following the presentation of works, a recruitment briefing and networking event were held to support the practical entry of middle-aged and senior graduates into the field.

Yoon Seong-hoon, General Manager, and Lee Yong-jun, Deputy Manager of the BLUMETZ Gwanghwamun branch, attended the event to provide on-site recruitment information and career counseling. In addition, recruitment information from various food service and deli industries was provided, broadening opportunities for re-employment and entrepreneurship for middle-aged and senior citizens.

At the conclusion of the event, a Seoul City satisfaction survey was conducted, and the graduates and officials took a commemorative photo, pledging active participation in the handmade meat processing sector in the future.

An official from the Bavaria State Meister School stated, “Through cooperation with the Seoul 50 Plus Foundation, middle-aged individuals were able to transform from simple labor-intensive food service businesses into professionals equipped with their own differentiated skills,” adding, “We look forward to these graduates becoming key players in presenting new high-value-added models to the food service market.”

The Seoul 50 Plus Foundation stated, “This program is highly significant in that it supported middle-aged individuals in acquiring specialized skills and connecting them to new job and entrepreneurial opportunities,” adding, “Moving forward, we will expand practical, job-oriented training that reflects the demands of the industrial field and strengthen corporate partnerships and follow-up management to ensure graduates achieve actual employment or entrepreneurial success.”