Woowa Brothers to improve company's reputation

Baedal Minjok logo / Courtesy of Woowa Brothers

By Kim Jae-heun

Woowa Brothers, operator of the country's top food delivery player Baedal Minjok (Baemin), said Monday it has established a partnership coordination department under direct control of CEO Kim Beom-joon and scouted a new vice president, Kwon Yong-kyu, to lead the team.

The company hopes such efforts can boost its image by strengthening its communication with business partners including local autonomous entities, subcontractors and small business owners.

Since it introduced a new fee system that sparked strong opposition from restaurant owners in April, public sentiment has drastically turned against the platform operator.

Despite withdrawing its updated rate-pricing guideline, Woowa Brothers has remained embroiled in several scandals with allegations that it abused its power to force subcontractors and restaurant owners to offer consumers better prices than they do on other delivery platforms.

Currently, a 4 trillion-won merger and acquisition deal between Delivery Hero and Woowa Brothers is under review for approval by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC).

Promoting fair trade and co-prosperity with business partners is one of the conditions that Woowa Brothers need to meet in order to combine with the German firm.

However, the FTC said Woowa Brothers' establishment of its new partnership coordination division won't be a big help to gaining approval.

"We can take into consideration their efforts, but it is not an official factor when reviewing Delivery Hero's acquisition deal of Woowa Brothers," a FTC official said.

Woowa Brothers also denied that it has any ulterior motives and only seeks to practice social contribution through foundation of such a department.

"We want to seek sustainable business management by communicating with the interested parties rather than marketing aggressively. We do not connect our efforts with the FTC's review on our M&A deal," a Woowa Brothers official said.

Woowa Brother CEO Kim promised to communicate more with business partners and make his company a pro-social one.

Kim said, "We will not only pursue consumers' satisfaction, but also that of subcontractors and restaurant owners and achieve better results."

Meanwhile, the new partnership coordination department includes three teams; Service Partnership Team, Corporate Social Responsibility Team and Local Cooperation Task Force. Woowa Brothers said it will create shared value and contribute to public welfare with the department.

Kwon has expertise in the field of company partnership, having undertaken similar roles at his previous appointments with CJ ENM, LG U+ and Naver. He spent 13 years at Naver, working on the company's relations with government officials, corporations and relevant associations by conducting campaigns and mutual growth initiatives to boost the company's corporate image.

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