Baedal Minjok hikes fees by 3 percentage points

Baedal Minjok, South Korea's top food delivery app, is increasing commission fees by 3 percentage point

Woowa Brothers interim CEO Pieter-Jan Vandepitt speaks at the company's internal conference on Wednesday. Woowa Brothers is the operator of food delivery service Baemin. [WOOWA BROTHERS]

Baedal Minjok — the country's top food delivery app, which is majority-owned by Germany's Delivery Hero — will hike commission fees by 3 percent point in August. Food prices may experience ripple effects. The commission fees charged to restaurants and businesses that use the company's delivery service, Baemin 1 Plus, will increase to 9.8 percent from the current 6.8 percent.

Woowa Brothers, Baedal Minjok's operator, and Woowa Brothers interim CEO Pieter-Jan Vandepitte announced the price increase on Wednesday.

The new commission fee will match that of Coupang Eats, which also charges 9.8 percent, and remain below that of Yogiyo at 12.5 percent.

The move will make it more expensive for restaurants, already managing high delivery costs and credit card fees, to use Baemin 1 Plus, a service wherein deliveries are carried out by Baemin drivers rather than a restaurant's own.

In return, delivery costs charged to the restaurants will be reduced by 100 won ($0.07) to 900 won per order.

The delivery service announced earlier in July that it would start to charge for its Baemin Club service on Aug. 20.

The program, which is currently free, offers discounts on delivery. Baemin Club will cost 3,990 won per month starting in August, with an introductory price of 1,990 won, and offer additional discounts on “major restaurants.”

The app will also revamp its user interface in the near future.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]