Hanwha-backed ice cream brand plans to expand from 15 stores to 100 locations in 2027 Better Scoop Creamery CEO Yoon Jin-ho speaks at a media event in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. (Better Scoop Creamery) POCHEON, Gyeonggi Province — In South Korea's crowded frozen dessert market, Benson, the premium ice cream brand operated by Hanwha Galleria subsidiary Better Scoop Creamery, is making the case for ice cream with more dairy and less of everything else.Its products stand apart from what it describes as the watered-down, powder-based formulations filling most Korean freezer aisles.Take the vanilla: Butterfat content reaches 17 percent, above the low-teens typical in the market. Meanwhile, air content is equal to just 40 percent of the original liquid mix volume — compared to 100 percent for many rivals — resulting in a denser, richer scoop with minimal additives."Most products on Korean shelves pass for milk-based ice cream, but in many cases what people are actually eating is water mixed with powdered milk," said Yoon Jin-ho, CEO of Better Scoop Creamery, at a media tour on Tuesday marking the brand's first anniversary. "We wanted to create a product with overwhelmingly superior taste and quality."Yoon likened the moment to Korea's coffee transformation when powdered mixes gave way to espresso drinks with fresh milk as consumer tastes matured. Benson, he believes, has all the makings to lead the same transition.Its vision of a more genuine dairy taste takes shape inside a factory in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, where stainless steel pipes carry raw milk through sterilization lines and robotic arms seal containers and stack boxes with measured precision.Production unfolds in carefully segmented stages, with quality established from the first step. In a chilled mixing room, raw milk and cream are blended before being aged for at least 36 hours."With butterfat levels around 17 percent, the mix becomes unstable if it is not aged long enough," said the facility director, surnamed Nam. "That is why we age it for at least 36 hours before moving to the next stage." A Benson manufacturing facility located in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province (Better Scoop Creamery) A robot at Benson’s production facility loads a batch of ice cream products into a shipping box. (No Kyung-min/The Korea Herald) The mix then moves through flavoring, freezing, packaging and quality control before being stored and shipped.Three robots assist at different points along the line, including a collaborative robot supplied by Hanwha Robotics that fills 10-liter tubs and operates alongside employees rather than behind barriers, guided by optical sensors for safety. Two others handle packaging and boxing.“By introducing robots into key production processes, we reduced staffing to roughly 50 to 60 percent of what a factory of similar scale would typically require,” said Nam. "Even at a higher upfront cost, the focus was on using automation to standardize quality and sharpen efficiency."Running a single daytime shift across a 3,300-square-meter site, the factory churns out roughly 600 to 700 10-liter tubs a day, alongside as many as 21,000 cups and pints, enough to supply up to 100 stores without expansion.Benson is moving to reach that capacity. A year after opening its first flagship in Seoul's Apgujeong neighborhood, the brand now operates 15 locations, with more than 20 expected by July, 30 by year-end and 100 in 2027."Last year, we focused on expanding through malls, department stores and other high-traffic locations to test the product's competitiveness," Yoon said. The brand has since moved past that phase, with taste and quality having improved considerably, he added.As it enters a new phase of expansion, Benson said it would hold fast to its philosophy of genuine flavor over fleeting trends."We don't want to chase trends at the expense of quality," said an official from the research and development team, noting that reacting to every passing fad would inevitably compromise product quality. A robot developed by Hanwha Robotics operates at Benson’s manufacturing facility in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. (Better Scoop Creamery)