From Member-Specific Breads to Random Photo Cards... CU Unveils RESCENE Collaboration Bakery Products

[Financial News] CU is launching five bakery products developed in collaboration with girl group RESCENE, the convenience store chain’s brand models. As demand grows for collaboration products targeting fan communities, CU has combined products reflecting each member’s preferences with limited-edition photo cards.
According to industry sources on the 15th, CU will begin sequentially releasing five RESCENE collaboration products through its in-house bakery brand BAKE405 starting on the 17th. The lineup includes Woni’s corn cream bread, MINAMI’s melon bread, May’s cinnamon roll, Zena’s strawberry sandwich, and Liv’s chocolate hotteok.
RESCENE members directly participated in developing the products. Their preferred flavors were incorporated into the items, and each of the five products comes with one randomly selected limited-edition transparent photo card from a set of 27 featuring images of RESCENE members.
CU’s collaboration bakery sales have continued to grow recently. Year-on-year sales growth reached 43.3% in 2024, 36.6% last year, and 30.9% from January through August this year. During the same periods, sales of differentiated bakery products rose by 35.3%, 29.2%, and 14.8%, respectively. The company explained that products combining relatively affordable prices with limited-edition merchandise, such as photo cards and collectible removable stickers, are attracting demand from fan communities.
Shin Eun-ji, a merchandise planner at BGF Retail, said, “We actively incorporated the members’ suggestion that they would like to release their favorite breads into the product planning. The products were designed to go beyond simple food items and allow fans to share in the everyday lives of artists they love through food as well.” She added, “CU will continue to introduce differentiated fan marketing and products through active collaboration initiatives.”
[email protected] Kim Hyun-ji Reporter