S PC Group signed an MOU on the supply of apples and a partnership for co-prosperity with Yeongcheon City in North Gyeongsang Province on Aug. 22 through Paris Baguette stores, cafes, and bakeries in the city.

Under the contract, Paris Baguette will be able to enhance the quality of its bakery products and farmers in the city will be able to secure a stable income base, the group said recently.

Paris Baguette has decided to donate 10 percent of its profits from the sales of the Apple Yogurt in the Fall Cake to the Yeongcheon City Scholarship Foundation every year, the group said.

The city will use the fund for scholarships to improve the educational environment for youths from low-income families.

Paris Baguette has introduced the Apple Yogurt in the Fall Cake along with a Yeongcheon mini-Apple showcasing apples from Yeongcheon to increase the sale of the special apple. 

Officials of Paris Baguette said they are glad to use domestic apples in their bakery products and supply healthy products to their customers. “We will sign more similar contracts with farmers in the provincial areas so that the economies in those areas will be improved in the spirit of our mutual survival campaign,” the company announced.

The bakery company has also been at work expanding the sale of its bakery products as healthy foods. A good example is the use of fresh strawberries grown in Yanggu, Gangwon Province, rice breads made with rice from Hampyeong, South Jeolla Province, environmentally-friendly fertile eggs from Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, and sponge cakes made with those special eggs.

SPC also drew up a support plan for its cooperative firms. Paris Croissant a survival fund jointly with Shinhan Bank, totaling 20 billion won, chipping in 10 billion won each, which is a fund to be loaned to cooperative firms who qualify in such areas as potential growth and performance based on credit analyses conducted by Shinhan Bank. The interest rates on those loans will be around 1.6 percent lower than the usual rates charged on regular bank loans. The fund is designed to help the cooperative firms solve their financial problems by making the loans more accessible to them since bank loans are tough for many to obtain due to poor financial records.

President Cho Sang-ho of SPC Co. said the survival fund is part of the company’s partnership for growth campaign kicked off in 2007 with the launch of a 130 billion won network loan fund. The company will continue to make efforts to grow together with its cooperative firms by creating diverse mutual growth through partnership measures.