Could you introduce your booth?
The booth was open for cheaply selling fresh flatfish sashimi to Postechians as befitted by the booth’s name, “Flatfish Returns.” We first started in 2009 and are composed of Industrial and Management Engineering (IME) undergraduates who return to the university after taking time off or being discharged upon completing military service. After that, this booth has planted itself as tradition in IME. Some juniors participated in preparing this event for continuing the tradition. This year, it was held in front of Freedom Cafeteria on May 18 from 5 PM.
What made you open up the booth?
It was a pity that Postechians could not take regional advantage of Pohang which is very close to the sea. I wanted Postechians to visit Juk-do market, which is one of the famous seafood markets in Korea. However, the majority of students cannot do that because they are busy studying. Because of this reason, I decided to take action by selling sashimi that made people get the taste of Pohang.
How were preparation and sales?
Preparing fresh flatfish was the most important. I visited Juk-do market for direct dealing. I explained my intention of doing this and asked the merchants for help. The merchants readily consented because they wanted to take part in the festival for students to enjoy.
As the purpose wasn’t to make a lot of money, I only made a small profit. To be more exact, we earned about 1,500 KRW if we sold a dish of sashimi. I just felt worthwhile when costumers were eating sashimi with gusto.
Were there any amusing anecdotes or episodes you would like to share?
At first, the business did not go quite as smoothly as expected. So, I grabbed live flatfish that constantly moved around vigorously in my hand and roamed around to advertise the booth. Many international students were curiously looking at them and took some pictures. After that, international students as well as Korean students came to the booth to eat sashimi. One of the foreign students even became a regular customer.
What did you think about festival of POSTECH? Any last words?
Frankly speaking, POSTECH’s festival is small and the participation is low. Some students go home during the festival because they couldn’t make time to go home at other times. This is very different from most universities in Seoul. However, if POSTECH’s festival makes the most out of its characteristic features, it would be more interesting and lots of people outside would come out to the festival. In other words, POSTECH should make its strengths stand out by creating related contents for the festival. For example, POSTECH could host a robot soccer contest so that the general public and other university students could participate.
I just hope the students can enjoy every moment of the festival.