Their Shellfish Sold for the Same Price as 20 Years Ago. So Jeju's Grandmother Divers Put Their Life Story on Stage: The Haenyeo's Kitchen Case Study and the 1 Billion Won Show
Kwon Young-hee started diving in the cold sea off Jeju Island when she was 10 years old.
Her mother lost her husband young and kept diving to raise five children on her own. Kwon followed her into the same cold water, and by her late 80s she was still diving.
And for most of those years, the horned turban shells she pulled from the rocks were worth almost nothing. Before the show you're about to read about began, they sold for about 2,700 won a kilogram, roughly US$2.50. The founder of that business put it bluntly: that was no different from the price 20 years earlier.
Then, in her late eighties, Kwon Young-hee walked onto a stage.
Not a real theatre. An old fish auction hall in her village of Jongdal-ri that had stood empty for about 20 years. Young actors had just performed a play about a diver's life. Now the real diver sat down in front of a room of paying guests, told her story and answered their questions. Then the guests ate the seafood she and her fellow divers had caught.
That place is called Haenyeo's Kitchen. By 2021 it was bringing in about 1 billion won a year, roughly US$870,000. It was buying the village divers' catch at about 20% above the market price. And by 2022, guests were waiting more than a month for a seat.
If you farm, and you've ever thought "my hard life isn't worth anything to anybody," this case study is for you. The haenyeo thought exactly that. They were wrong. So are you.
The short answer: how Haenyeo's Kitchen built a 1 billion won show • The product is a true life story, told where it happened, in a disused fish auction hall in a diving village. • The format has four parts: a short play by young actors, a talk about the seafood, a home-style meal of the divers' catch, and a question-and-answer session with a real haenyeo. • The money comes from tickets (59,000 won per person at the original branch today, about US$43) plus seafood products, meal kits and new branches. • The divers win twice: they are paid to perform and cook, and the business buys their catch at about 20% above market price. • The results: about 1 billion won in annual sales by 2021, nearly 50,000 guests by 2022, an average booking rate of 96.8%, a second branch, investors, and in late 2025 a restaurant in Singapore. |
Who Are the Haenyeo, and Why Are They Disappearing?
The haenyeo are the women divers of Jeju, South Korea's southern island. For generations they have dived without oxygen tanks, holding their breath to gather shellfish, sea urchins, abalone and seaweed from the sea floor.
Their way of life is so special that UNESCO added the culture of the Jeju haenyeo to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. In 2023, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization also named the Jeju haenyeo fisheries a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
But being called "heritage" does not pay the bills. And the divers are vanishing.
23,081: haenyeo on Jeju in 1965 2,371: haenyeo at the end of 2025, after losing 252 in a single year 63%: share of today's haenyeo aged 70 or older |
In Jongdal-ri, the village where Haenyeo's Kitchen began, the fishing cooperative counted about 103 active divers in 2021, mostly in their 70s. The cooperative's head said that most active divers were in their 70s and that new divers often couldn't last more than a year or two.
Does that sound familiar? Ageing farmers. Few young people coming in. A product sold for prices set by someone else, far away. If you farm almost anywhere in the world today, the haenyeo story is your story too.
The Founder: A Drama Student Who Went Home
Kim Ha-won grew up in Jongdal-ri, in a family of divers. In her own words, her grandmother and two aunts were all haenyeo.
She left the island to study acting at the Korea National University of Arts, one of Korea's top arts schools. During a summer break in her final year of university, she found out how badly the divers back home were doing. Seafood prices had fallen. About 80% of Jeju's horned turban shells were exported to Japan, where importers set the price, and with no market at home the divers had no other buyer.
Later she said she felt sad that the village's seafood was being shipped to Japan at rock-bottom prices.
Here's what's important: she didn't have a farm, a boat or money. She had acting skills, a family story and a village full of heroes nobody was listening to.
She found her idea in an unexpected place: a restaurant in the United States where musical theatre performers serve the food. What if, she wondered, the people who caught the food told their own story while guests ate it?
Before starting, she had helped her mother enter a product from the family's seafood-processing business in a national food contest, where it won a ministerial award. That gave her the confidence that Jeju seafood, presented well, could win people over.
Field-Tested Play: look for the "outsider" in your own family. Kim Ha-won saw what the divers could not see because she had left and come back. On your farm, that person might be the grown child who moved to the city, the in-law from another country, or the grandchild studying film. Ask them: "What about our farm would people pay to see?" Their answer may surprise you. |
The Building Nobody Wanted
In Jongdal-ri there was an old live-fish auction hall that had later become a warehouse and had stood unused for about 20 years.
Kim Ha-won and her university classmate, fellow theatre graduate Go Yu-na, saw a stage. The cooperative's head, Kim Tae-min, went all out to help the two young women. In 2018 they turned the warehouse, about 330 square metres, into a dining and performance space.
The roles were split simply:
The village and its fishing cooperative supplied the seafood.
The young operating team produced the show and the content.
Jeju's fishing village support centre helped with promotion.
In May 2018 they held a trial performance for local people. In January 2019 they opened properly, and the company was incorporated in June 2019. By March 2019, Airbnb was already featuring the experience in its Korean newsroom.
Kim chose the old auction hall on purpose. It was where the village's catch had once been sold, and she wanted the divers' stories told in a place where they really happened. Describing a diver who wept after telling her life on stage, Kim said simply: "There is nothing fake in this space."
If you have an old barn, packing shed or dairy parlour standing empty, read my guide on what to do with an old barn. The building you think is a burden may be your stage.
Inside the Show: What Guests Actually Get
The original show at Jongdal-ri runs about 2 hours 20 minutes. A guest review from 2026 broke it down like this, and it closely matches a 2021 review:
Part | About how long | What happens |
1. The haenyeo story | 25 minutes | Young actors perform a short play based on the true life of a village diver |
2. The seafood story | 25 minutes | Guests learn about the catch: how it's gathered, cooked, even how to tell male from female shells |
3. The haenyeo's table | 50 minutes | A generous home-style meal of seafood gathered by the village divers |
4. Questions and answers | 40 minutes | A real haenyeo answers guests' questions, in the Jeju dialect |
The first plays were based on the lives of four real divers. One told how a girl first dived as a teenager and met dolphins in the sea. Kwon Young-hee's performance drew on her mother's life: a young widow who kept diving to raise five children.
Shows run Thursday to Sunday, at lunchtime and dinnertime. Tickets at the original branch now cost 59,000 won per person, about US$43.
The menu changes, but guests have been served horned turban shell skewers and salted turban shell, hijiki and black sesame porridge, braised cutlassfish, abalone seaweed soup, Jeju black pork and agar jelly. In 2022, more than 90% of the ingredients came from the Jongdal-ri cooperative.
Field-Tested Play: give the Q&A real time. Many farm tours squeeze questions into the last few minutes. Haenyeo's Kitchen gives its real diver about 40 minutes. That's where the magic happens: guests stop being an audience and start having a conversation with a person who lived the story. If your mum, dad or grandparent can sit in a chair and answer questions, that may be the most valuable 40 minutes on your farm. |
The second branch: 14 seats and a sea on the wall
In November 2021, Haenyeo's Kitchen opened a second branch in Bukchon. It's a very different format: a course meal for just 14 guests at a time, at tables shaped like the stone shelters where haenyeo warm up between dives, with images of the underwater world projected on a curved wall.
Between courses, a short two-person play is performed by a haenyeo and an actor. Courses are named after parts of the diver's world. The menu changes every six months and is developed with the haenyeo. The two Bukchon courses cost 69,000 or 89,000 won, roughly US$50 or US$64.
The Money: Where 1 Billion Won Came From
Now for the numbers farmers care about. Here's what reliable Korean and English reports say.
Measure | Figure | When |
Annual sales | About 1 billion won (roughly US$870,000) | 2021 |
Seafood bought from village divers | 14 tonnes, at about 20% above market price | 2021 |
Seafood bought in total | About 50 tonnes | By 2023 |
Paid to haenyeo who perform and cook | A total of 100 million won | By late 2020 |
Guests served | About 45,000 to 50,000 in total | 2022 |
Average booking rate | 96.8% over three years | 2022 |
Guests who came by word of mouth | About 70% | 2021 |
Guests who asked how to buy the divers' seafood | Over 40% | Reported 2024 |
Two Korean newspapers reported the 1 billion won figure in November 2022. One of them, Dailian, quoted the cooperative's head, Kim Tae-min, describing annual sales of about 1 billion won.
The 20% premium
This is the part that matters most for farmers.
On its English website, Haenyeo's Kitchen says it purchases seafood from haenyeo at a 20% premium. Korean reports in 2022 described the same thing: seafood bought from the cooperative at about 20% above the market price. A 2024 report from Korea's Beautiful Foundation put it at 20 to 30%. Part of the profits also goes to the village's development fund.
Think about what that means. For years, the divers took whatever price a buyer in another country offered. Now a business in their own village pays them about 20% more. In my view, it's the story that lets the business afford that: guests pay for the story along with the meal.
The story didn't just sell tickets. It created a new buyer at home that pays the divers more.
That's the lesson for every farmer reading this. I've written before about the experience premium and how Fattoria di Maiano sells olive oil at 12 times the market price. Haenyeo's Kitchen shows the same idea working with a shellfish almost nobody valued.
Selling beyond the show
Once people have heard the story, many want to take the seafood home. A 2024 Beautiful Foundation report said more than 40% of guests asked how to buy the divers' catch. The business also sells beyond the show:
Meal kits with Dongwon's "The Banchan" brand in 2022, including horned turban shell seaweed soup.
Crowdfunding for a salted horned turban shell recipe from the oldest diver. The target was 1 million won. It raised 40 million won.
E-commerce, which the founder described in 2021 as a way for shoppers to pay less than through the usual routes while the divers earned more.
Field-Tested Play: count how many guests ask "can I buy this?" A 2024 report found that more than 4 in 10 Haenyeo's Kitchen guests asked how to buy the seafood. Keep a tally sheet by your exit for one month. Every time someone asks to buy, take home or order something, make a mark. That number tells you exactly which product to develop next. See my guide to hosting farm-to-table dinners for how to turn the table into a shop. |
From One Village to Singapore: The Growth Timeline
Year | Milestone |
2018 | Trial performance for locals in May; old auction hall converted into a dining theatre |
2019 | Opens in January; featured by Airbnb in March; company incorporated in June |
2020 | COVID pause of about 5 months; seats cut from 42 to 30; named Jeju's best local creator by Korea's Startup Promotion Agency |
2021 | About 1 billion won in sales; Bukchon branch opens in November; pre-Series A investment in December |
2022 | Meal kits launched; about 50,000 guests served in total |
2025 | Company renamed Haenyeo Kitchen Group; Singapore restaurant opens late in the year at The Arts House, at S$148 a person |
2026 | Korea's First Lady holds a tourism roundtable at the Singapore branch in March |
Some of what happened along the way matters as much as the wins.
COVID hit hard. In 2020 the show paused for about five months, and capacity was cut from 42 to 30. Instead of waiting, the team used the time to prepare the Bukchon branch.
Grants didn't fit. In 2022, Kim said she planned to stop applying for government support programs because the rules didn't match how the business really worked. She turned to investors instead.
The performers are ageing. Kwon Young-hee was 91 in 2022. The oldest member was 88 in 2026. The Bukchon branch, with its projected underwater world, is one way to keep sharing haenyeo culture even when fewer divers can perform.
Not everyone is wowed. One Singapore reviewer said the food was homely and authentic rather than mind-blowing. Time Out Singapore suggested it was a one-time experience. The story is the product, and that's fine. But it's a reminder that a strong story still needs good food and a reason to return.
12 Lessons Every Farmer Can Take From Haenyeo's Kitchen
Lesson No. 1: Your hard life is the product
The haenyeo didn't need a new attraction. They needed someone to see that what they already did every day, the cold, the danger, the loss, the skill, was worth paying to hear. The same is true of your frost, your flood, your family and your stubbornness. Read why sharing your farm story is essential if you still doubt it.
Lesson No. 2: Tell the story where it happened
Kim Ha-won put the show in the very hall where the divers once sold their catch. On a farm, tell the frost story in the orchard, the dairy story in the old parlour and the grandfather story under the tree he planted.
Lesson No. 3: Put the real person in front of guests
Actors set the scene. But the moment guests remember is when the real diver speaks. Nobody can copy your parent, your grandparent or you. That's your moat.
Lesson No. 4: Pair the elders with young talent
Haenyeo's Kitchen paired village divers with young performers trained at a top arts university. Elders bring truth. Young people bring energy, stagecraft and social media skills. On your farm, that could mean grandchildren, local drama students or farm kids as tour guides.
Field-Tested Play: borrow the four-part format. Story, product, table, questions. You can run a small version this season: a 20-minute story in the barn, 20 minutes on how you grow your crop, a 45-minute meal or tasting, and 30 minutes of questions with the oldest farmer in the family. Price it like a night out, not like a walk. |
Lesson No. 5: End at the table
Every Haenyeo's Kitchen show is built around a meal of the food from the story. The emotion of the play flows straight into the taste. Never end your farm experience in the car park.
Lesson No. 6: Pay your producers more, and say so
The 20% premium is not just kindness. It's part of the story guests buy into. When guests know their ticket helps pay the divers fairly, they feel good about spending more.
Lesson No. 7: Turn your undervalued crop into the hero
Horned turban shells sold for about a tenth of the price of farmed abalone. Haenyeo's Kitchen made them the star. What do you grow that sells cheaply at wholesale? That may be the very thing your story can lift. My article on how farms use agritourism when crop prices fall shows more examples.
Lesson No. 8: Keep it small and sold out
The Bukchon branch seats just 14 guests at a time. Across the business, Haenyeo's Kitchen reported an average booking rate of 96.8% over three years, so almost every seat sold. Small groups feel special, cost less to run, and let you charge more per head.
Lesson No. 9: Fixed times and real tickets
Shows run at set times on set days, booked ahead. That's how you go from "drop by any time" to a business you can plan. If you're still unsure how to price it, start with the best way to set entry fees and ticket prices.
Lesson No. 10: Let word of mouth do the selling
In 2021, about 70% of guests came through word of mouth. True, emotional stories get retold. That's also why reviews can turn small farms into destinations.
Lesson No. 11: Partner with your community
The cooperative supplied the seafood, the young team ran the show and a public support centre helped with promotion. No one could have done it alone. Which neighbour, co-op or local group could you partner with?
Lesson No. 12: Plan for the day the storyteller can't come
The elders won't perform forever. Haenyeo's Kitchen is building formats like media art that can carry the culture forward. On your farm, record your elders' stories now, with their permission, and train the next generation to tell them.
How to Apply the Haenyeo Formula on Your Farm
Here's how the Haenyeo's Kitchen model translates to a family farm.
Haenyeo's Kitchen | Your farm |
Abandoned fish auction hall | Old barn, packing shed, greenhouse or dairy parlour |
Play by young actors | A short scene, an old-photo slideshow or your hard-year story told in the barn |
The seafood story | How you grow, raise or make your product, with something to touch |
The real haenyeo's Q&A | Your parent, grandparent or you, answering questions |
A meal of the divers' catch | A tasting, farm lunch or farm-to-table dinner |
Catch bought at 20% above market | Your own produce sold at retail, with story cards, after the show |
Meal kits and crowdfunding | Jams, boxes, subscriptions, pre-orders and a customer list |
Your first story show in five steps
Dig up your story. Ask your family about the hardest year, the oldest object and the person who held everything together.
Choose your stage. The place where the story really happened.
Write a short script. Five minutes for the story, five for your product, and plenty of time for questions.
Set a fixed time, a small group and a real price. Start small: 10 to 30 guests.
End at the table, then let them buy. Story cards on every product. Ask for a review on the way out.
Not sure how long it should be? My guide to how long a farm tour should be helps you find the sweet spot. And if you want people lining up, read the signature experience formula.
Questions to Ask Before You Sell Story Show Tickets
General information, not legal or insurance advice. Rules differ by country, state and county. Ask a local lawyer, your insurer and your local authority before you open. |
A story show combines food, a crowd in a building and sometimes performers. That brings questions a simple farm walk doesn't.
Food: Do I need a permit or licence to serve a meal or tastings to paying guests? Does my kitchen qualify? My guide to selling food on your farm covers what can go wrong.
Buildings: Is my barn or shed approved for public gatherings? Are exits, lighting and fire safety adequate for the number of guests?
Zoning: Does my land use allow ticketed events? Check before you print tickets.
Insurance: Does my policy cover ticketed events, food service and guests inside buildings? Do I need an agritourism or event endorsement? See agritourism insurance: what coverage you need.
Liability laws: Does my state or province have an agritourism liability law, and does it cover a meal or a show? Check the agritourism laws by state.
Performers and elders: Am I paying performers properly? Do I need written agreements? Do I have parental consent for anyone under 18?
Stories and photos: Do I have permission to tell each family member's story and use their photo in marketing?
Tickets: What's my refund and weather policy, and is it written on the booking page?
What a Short Season Taught Me About Stories
On my own farm, Bloopy Durians in Bentong, Malaysia, our durian seasons are short: about four to five months a year in total. That means every visitor and every customer matters.
We keep a WhatsApp list of loyal customers who buy durians whenever they're available, and it's a reliable source of income. People don't stay loyal to a fruit. They stay loyal to the people and the story behind it.
That's exactly what Haenyeo's Kitchen understood. The seafood was always good. The story is what made people value it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Haenyeo's Kitchen?
Haenyeo's Kitchen is a dining theatre on Jeju Island, South Korea, started by Kim Ha-won (now its CEO) with fellow young theatre graduates. Guests watch a short play about the life of a haenyeo (a Jeju woman diver), learn about the seafood, eat a meal made with the divers' catch, and ask a real haenyeo questions. It opened in 2019 in an old fish auction hall in Jongdal-ri.
How much does Haenyeo's Kitchen cost?
At the time of writing, the original Jongdal branch charges 59,000 won per person (about US$43). The Bukchon branch offers two courses at 69,000 or 89,000 won. The Singapore restaurant, which opened in late 2025, charges S$148 per person. Check the official site for current prices.
How much money does Haenyeo's Kitchen make?
Korean news reports in November 2022 said the business had annual sales of about 1 billion won (roughly US$870,000), referring to 2021. I could not find later revenue figures in public reports.
How does Haenyeo's Kitchen help the divers?
It pays haenyeo to perform and cook, and buys seafood from the village divers at about 20% above the market price. In 2021 it bought 14 tonnes of seafood. Part of the profits goes to the village development fund.
Why are Jeju's haenyeo disappearing?
Diving is hard, cold and dangerous work, and few young people take it up. Jeju had 23,081 haenyeo in 1965 and 2,371 at the end of 2025, with 63% aged 70 or older.
Can a farm copy the Haenyeo's Kitchen model?
Yes. The model is a true story told where it happened, by the real people who lived it, followed by a meal or tasting of what they produce. A farm can do the same with a barn, a family elder and its own crops, as long as it follows local food, building and insurance rules.
How do I start telling my farm's story to visitors?
Start by collecting stories from your family, choose the strongest three, and build them into a short script with a clear beginning, a hard moment, a turning point and an ending at your product. The Farm Storyteller's Script Book walks you through it step by step.
Get the Scripts That Turn Your Farm Story Into Ticket Sales
Haenyeo's Kitchen proves that a hard life, told well, is worth paying for. But most farmers don't know where to start. What story do I tell? How long should it be? What do I actually say at the gate, in the field, at the table?
That's why I wrote The Farm Storyteller's Script Book. It's a 100-page workbook with 21 fill-in-the-blank scripts for every moment of a farm visit, the 60-question Story Dig, an elder interview guide, the Three-Act Farm Story Show modeled on Haenyeo's Kitchen, ticket math worksheets and a 30-day launch plan. It's US$37, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Not ready yet? Start with the free Farm Readiness Quiz. It takes about five minutes and shows which part of your farm to work on first.
P.S. Kwon Young-hee spent nearly 80 years diving, and near the end of it her shells sold for no more than they had 20 years before. It took a stage, a story and a granddaughter of divers to show the world what her life was worth. Somewhere on your farm there's a story like hers. Don't wait until nobody is left to tell it.
Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. This article is general information, not legal, insurance or financial advice. Currency conversions are approximate. Check your own situation with local professionals.
Sources
Seoul Shinmun, theatre restaurant feature (Korean), Sept 29, 2022
Newstomato, Jeju haenyeo story report (Korean), Nov 20, 2022
Airbnb Newsroom Korea, Jeju haenyeo experiences, Mar 19, 2019
Newsis, interview with Kim Ha-won and Seok Jae-won (Korean), Nov 9, 2020
Regional Culture Promotion Agency webzine, Kim Ha-won interview (Korean), June 2022
KDI Nara Kyungje, haenyeo and young artists (Korean), Oct 2023
Beautiful Foundation, Haenyeo's Kitchen (Korean), Aug 19, 2024
Newsis, First Lady at Singapore branch (Korean), Mar 2, 2026
ETNews, Haenyeo's Kitchen and e-commerce (Korean), June 25, 2021
Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, show review (Korean), Apr 15, 2021
Korea.net, Jeju haenyeo fisheries named FAO agricultural heritage, Nov 13, 2023
Seoul Shinmun via twig24, Jeju haenyeo numbers at end of 2025 (Korean), Jan 20, 2026
Insight, First Lady visit to Singapore branch (Korean), Mar 3, 2026
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