Interview Finding solutions is key to Poing's success
Poing CEO Jung Bum-jin
By Yun Suh-young
Poing is an online platform which provides information on premium restaurants and offers dining packages and online reservation services for them. Its mission is to "maximize the dining experience of customers."
But when it first began, it wasn't all that grandiose.
What CEO Jung Bum-jin of Trust Us, which owns Poing, wanted to do was to simply solve the problems that the dining industry faced.
Jung noticed that there was something wrong with the way this industry worked. Any price that the restaurants' resource providers, ranging from ingredient distributors to kitchenware, set would be fixed. Jung immediately thought this was wrong and that the restaurant owners were spending so much more on what they could be saving.
"The industry was so old fashioned and there was a huge discrepancy between the dreams of these chefs and what they were actually achieving. I felt an urge to solve their problems. So I started out by designing menus for them because that's what they said they needed most," said Jung.
"Although I started out with a pure heart, I realized after a few months that they were looking down on me as a subcontractor, even though I was a college graduate. I then noticed that the scale of my business was too small. So I wondered how I could earn respect from this industry and realized I would need a media platform to gain influence. That's how Poing started."
The service began in January 2014 as a mobile application showing information on various restaurants and offering reservation services. It doesn't include too many restaurants, however, because it focuses on restaurants that maximize customers’ dining experience. For instance, the restaurant information provided on the app is to help increase reservation on the restaurants listed and those restaurants offer a special dining package to customers who reserve only through the Poing app.
"We currently have 500,000 users. The purpose of Poing is to first expose customers to premium restaurants because only when they know about them, can they reserve seats. When we opened our service, there weren't many services that offered information on good restaurants on a daily basis and provided a search option as well. People had to refer to food magazines," said Jung.
When people book through the Poing app, they will be offered a "Poing menu" by the restaurant which is an exclusive deal forged between the restaurant and Poing. This menu is designed to be a course menu to offer customers a full dining experience, rather than an eat-and-go type.
"Even at premium restaurants, Koreans used to only order a main dish and quickly eat and leave. I wanted to change that culture and offer them a holistic dining experience beginning with the appetizer to the dessert and coffee," he said.
The reservation through the app is pre-paid, in order to reduce the number of no-shows at restaurants.
"I wanted to create a culture of eradicating no-shows which cause restaurants huge damage. With our service, there are 0.1 percent no-shows, which is why restaurants are so happy to work with us and provide us with a separate menu even if it's extra work."
Starting from February, Poing offers an offline service catered to restaurants only. The service will be based on membership and with a monthly fee of 150,000 won to 250,000 won, restaurants that are registered as members will be able to receive a package deal of services ranging from the reservation system, photo shoot, video making, menu design, ingredients and kitchenware orders, security and pest control, music services, cleaning and tax accounting.
"It's a one-stop option for restaurants that already have too many things to consider. If they become a member, we do everything for them and save them costs," said Jung. "Our goal is to become a dining company that provides everything needed from A to Z to the dining industry."
Jung studied biology at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). After graduating from college, he entered grad school, which he dropped out just five days after enrollment.
"I didn't want to study anymore. I had always wanted to run my own business. At the end of 2011, there was a boom for opening coffee shops. I was thinking of that too so I went to exhibitions on startup consulting for cafes. I realized the system for opening franchises was so fraud. Then I started interviewing various shop owners on why the system was so messed up. Then I ended up helping restaurants," said Jung.
"I wanted my business to be aligned with my lifestyle. Food is a category in which everyone finds necessity and enjoys. It's a huge industry with a lot of demand."
He established his company in 2012 at the age of 22 and started offering services from 2014. The company grew to 50 members from 15 two years ago. Since last year, it offers cooking classes for the public which have become quite popular that they are often sold out within days.
"Our ultimate goal is to expand into all categories of dining, not just fine dining. We want to build a reputation that our selection of restaurants are reliable choices."