Delivery App 'User Review Rating' System Encourages Excessive Competition

Threatening Business Owners Who Force Good Scores or Refuse Food Reorders

Civilians Say "A System Is Needed to Address Unfair Practices"

As the spread of COVID-19 prolongs, Sangmu District, the largest entertainment area in Gwangju Metropolitan City, is showing a quiet appearance.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The ‘restaurant evaluation system’ implemented by delivery companies to convey information to users is instead fueling excessive competition among restaurants.

As a result, some restaurants are even forcing consumers to give high ratings and penalizing those who give low scores, raising calls for improvement.

According to the delivery and dining industries on the 22nd, with the spread of non-face-to-face interactions due to around 1,000 COVID-19 confirmed cases, the number of users placing delivery orders has surged.

Compared to this past summer, related industries explain that customers ordering through delivery apps have recently increased by 30 to 40%.

As the number of delivery app users grows, the side effects of the ‘evaluation system,’ which allows users to easily compare restaurants and view reviews, are emerging.

In fact, there has been controversy over restaurant owners who semi-forcibly demand ‘star ratings’ and ‘reviews’ from users on delivery apps as references for orders.

On the 7th, a post titled ‘The Current Status of Restaurants Only Receiving 5-Star Reviews’ was uploaded on an online community site.

The netizen who wrote the post attached a screenshot of a message written by a restaurant owner in Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, criticizing the situation by saying, “Even this kind of xx is doing business.”

The screenshot contained threatening messages such as, “Only five stars will be accepted. If there is a complaint about the food, please contact the store. Reorders will be refused if a low-star review is written. Even if punished, I will share the case with the community of all businesses in Seo-gu with whom I have connections.”

After the controversy, the restaurant owner posted an apology saying, “My small-mindedness was foolish. I will respond with a calm and gentle attitude,” leading to an embarrassing situation.

One restaurant owner said, “If a bad review is posted, sales noticeably drop for a while, so owners are sensitive to star ratings and reviews. While it is right to focus on service, taste, and quality to receive good ratings and reviews, there are actually users who maliciously nitpick, so the evaluation system seems like a double-edged sword.”

He added, “As managing reviews and ratings within delivery apps becomes important, some owners hire people to post negative reviews on competitors, and there are also review agencies operating secretly,” he lamented.

It is analyzed that such overreactions arise because delivery app users generally refer to reviews and star ratings when choosing restaurants.

Therefore, voices calling for a system to supplement this are also emerging.

Civilian Jung Mo (23, female) said, “It may be due to personal taste, but there are many cases where I was disappointed after ordering based on good reviews. Although scores and reviews are meant to encourage fair competition among restaurants, I feel they excessively fuel competition.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.