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Baedal Minjok rolls out Japanese, Chinese, English ordering options
Baedal Minjok’s updated food ordering interface allows users to search, order and pay in English. Courtesy of Woowa Brothers
By Ko Dong-hwan
Major online food ordering platform Baedal Minjok, also known as Baemin, now supports English, Japanese and Chinese, anticipating growth in its foreign customer base in Korea.
Baemin operator Woowa Brothers said Wednesday that the updated platform allows users to set their preferred language from the three options. The multilingual support is available on both Android and iOS devices. The app prompts users with a pop-up notice to adjust their language settings on mobile devices, regardless of whether the operating system is set to Korean or another language.
With the update, Baemin now allows users to search, select a restaurant and menu items, pay and check real-time delivery progress in those languages.
Woowa Brothers said it implemented a large language model-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) to introduce the new language services. The company said the approach enables a more “comprehensive and precise use of words and sentences, rather than simply borrowing phrases translated word for word.”
Woowa Brothers said it will continue to update the platform so that the language support, which is currently limited to food ordering, can later be extended to other services like grocery shopping for delivery. The company will also develop a separate database of language explaining menu options, dubbed a “menu dictionary,” to improve accuracy and flow in the translation of items available for delivery.
Woowa Brothers expects the latest platform update to help Baemin’s partner restaurant operators boost sales by attracting more foreign customers. Baemin currently supports foreign payment methods such as WeChat Pay and Alipay+. Sales made through those services as of last December surged 300 percent from a year earlier, reflecting the platform’s growing popularity among foreigners in Korea.
The company hopes the latest Baemin update will allow tourists to Korea — who totaled nearly 19 million last year — to experience the country’s “K-delivery” culture, often depicted in movies and TV dramas.
“Not just the tourists to Korea, but also foreigners living here can now conveniently use Baemin. We’ll continue to lower the platform’s interface barriers for broader ranges of customers," said Woowa Brothers Chief Product Officer Baek In-beom.