Cho has faith in new restaurant guide
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Cho You-mi, head of the KOREAT organizing committee and CEO of Welcomm Publicis, speaks during an interview at her office in Seoul. / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young
By Yun Suh-young
On Sept. 16, a restaurant guide to be considered the "Korean version of the Michelin Guide" was launched in Seoul.
KOREAT was the name, a portmanteau of "Korea" and "eat," and it is expected become an authoritative restaurant ranking guide to be compared with none other in the country. It is the first of its kind to be introduced in Korea backed by a committee of credible sponsors.
KOREAT has an organizing committee and a ranking committee consisting of 100 experts in the field who choose the top 50 restaurants. Ranking committee members consist of chefs, media personnel, and restaurateurs. KOREAT started out by ranking the top 50 in its debut year but may expand to ranking the top 100.
Welcomm Publicis, headed by Cho You-mi, is one of the main organizers and sponsors which holds the largest share of responsibility amid the organizing committee members. Welcomm Publicis is a Korean branch of the French advertising company Publicis Groupe. As her company took up the supporting role, naturally Cho was delegated with the responsibility to head the KOREAT organizing committee.
Sitting down with The Korea Times, Cho spoke of the endeavors and difficulties of formulating a guide never before attempted.
"It began from the question, 'Why aren't Korea's restaurants mentioned in global culinary awards when the industry is robust and highly developed? In events such as Asia's 50 Best Restaurants held annually in Singapore, only one or two restaurants in Korea would be mentioned, far below the level of recognition compared to restaurants in China or Japan. This triggered a need for our own platform," said Cho.
"A reporter from the Chosun Ilbo who's covered the food industry for 15 years came to us with this question, requesting us to create an independent platform _ because in essence, that's what we do. We had all the tools needed to create such a platform along with a marketing tool so we believed it was feasible. All the more, it was a worthwhile project which we believed would, hopefully, change the paradigm of the gourmet industry."
Cho believes the country has abundant culinary content to be introduced to the world, which she thinks is a pity.
"Korea has a huge variety of food from various cultures. The quality of the food is also top notch. But not many people know this. When foreigners come to Korea, they don't come expecting great eating. That breaks my heart," said Cho.
"There are cities which make you expect everything to be delicious. People have high expectations for Tokyo or Osaka in Japan. Paris is needless to say. Everyone expects above-average taste in any restaurant in France. But that's not the case for Seoul. So I take my business clients to a variety of top quality restaurants which they find amazing. After that, they even come back to Seoul just to eat."
Cho believes there's much to do in promoting Korea's culinary scene and hopes KOREAT could do its part in getting the word out. She also hopes to film a food documentary in the future and sell it to global broadcasting companies to promote Korea's food content.
At the moment, KOREAT won't publish a guide book like Michelin does, but will list restaurants through its own website, www.kor-eat.com, available in three languages ― Korean, English and Chinese ― and promote Korea's restaurants through online channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, also available in those languages.
"At the current state, KOREAT is not a model to bring profit. In the long run, we hope it will bring economic benefits of course with increased tourists. But we'll move slowly forward. I hope people take interest in the platform and encourage its growth with constructive criticism to help promote Korea's food culture globally."