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"They said it was food their own family eats, but this was the filthiest place I have ever seen."
A video filmed inside a delivery-only restaurant in Seoul has set off a hygiene controversy after it was posted online. Grease coated the area around the cooking counter, and trash was strewn across the floor. Because customers cannot inspect the kitchens of delivery-only restaurants, anxiety over hygiene management is growing.
Delivery Food Transactions Hit 37 Trillion Won. What About Hygiene?
Online transactions in South Korea's food service sector reached 37 trillion won ($26 billion) in 2024, up 14.3% from a year earlier, according to a report on domestic and overseas restaurant industry trends and the management conditions of dining businesses released by the Korea Rural Economic Institute on the 16th. Mobile transactions accounted for 36.6 trillion won, or 98.9% of the total.
Restaurants offering delivery service also posted relatively higher sales. Their average annual revenue was 281.78 million won in 2024, 16.8% more than the 241.28 million won recorded by restaurants without delivery. Operating profit margins also differed, at 10.3% and 9.5% respectively.
Fast-food and fried chicken outlets make the heaviest use of delivery apps. Among pizza, hamburger and sandwich businesses, 86.2% used delivery apps and 84.0% used third-party delivery agents, according to a survey of dining businesses on Statistics Korea's national statistics portal, KOSIS. Fried chicken outlets recorded 74.5% and 69.8% respectively.
As the delivery market expands, hygiene management in cooking environments that consumers cannot see for themselves is emerging as a new challenge.
"Filthiest I Have Ever Seen." A Delivery Worker Reveals a Kitchen
Against that backdrop, a video filmed inside a delivery-only restaurant in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district drew criticism online.
On the 14th, a post exposing the hygiene conditions at a restaurant visited during a delivery shift, along with a roughly five-second video, appeared on the social media platform Threads.
The poster, identified only as A, described the scene, saying, "While working a delivery job, I saw the filthiest restaurant I have ever come across."
The video showed a kitchen with assorted items piled haphazardly around the gas range and cooking counter. Torn plastic wrap, cardboard boxes and sauce containers were scattered on the floor, and a man wearing slippers was working among them.
A claimed that grease had built up throughout the cooking area and that the man preparing food was not wearing a hair covering.
"The entire area around the gas burners was yellow with grease, and the rice cooker lid was open with the rice looking yellow too," A said. "The air conditioner was full of grease and the white fan had turned black."
Conditions deeper inside the kitchen were even worse, A claimed, saying, "All kinds of trash was piled up, and I wondered whether this was really a place where food is made." A also said there was a folding bed that had turned black at the back of the space.
A took particular issue with the wording printed on the food packaging bag. "It said something to the effect that this is food our family eats. Would they really feed this to their own family?" A said, criticizing the hygiene conditions.
A said the restaurant was located in Yeongdeungpo but did not disclose its name. In response to comments urging a report to authorities, A said the case would be filed with the Safety Report system.
"We Are Meticulous About Hygiene. This Is Unfair." Small Business Owners Push Back
Users who saw the video reacted with shock. Comments included: "It is hard to tell what is trash and what is an ingredient," "Customers cannot see the kitchen at delivery-only places, so I hope delivery workers report them," "No wonder my stomach hurt after eating," and "There are places even worse than this."
Consumers also shared how they try to check hygiene conditions when ordering delivery food. Some said, "I check the business name and the owner's name, and I even look at street view on maps," and "Even if the reviews are good, I avoid restaurants that only do delivery with no dining area." Others advised caution when the store name shown on a delivery app differs from the registered business name.
Others argued that delivery-only restaurants as a whole should not be condemned over cases involving a few establishments. One user who said they run a delivery-only restaurant posted photos of their own clean kitchen, saying, "I am really making an effort because I do not want to be suspected like this."
Another small business owner said, "It is unfair that restaurants that are meticulous about hygiene get criticized along with the rest."
As the delivery food market grows, so does the importance of oversight of cooking environments that consumers cannot verify directly. Still, the video alone does not amount to official confirmation that the restaurant violated the Food Sanitation Act.
360 Delivery-Only Restaurants Inspected. Illegal Practices Found at 34
Hygiene problems at delivery-only restaurants have also surfaced in actual crackdowns. In April last year, Gyeonggi Province's special judicial police unit said it had inspected 360 delivery-only restaurants in the province and found 37 illegal practices at 34 of them.
The most common violation was storing products past their use-by date, with 27 cases. That was followed by six cases of country-of-origin labeling violations, three cases of failing to meet food preservation standards and one case of failing to report a major change.
One restaurant in Guri was found to have stored imitation crab sticks and taro stems that were two weeks past their use-by date alongside normal ingredients.
Another restaurant in Pyeongtaek kept a sauce that required refrigeration at room temperature in the cooking area, and a restaurant in Hwaseong was caught installing a refrigerated storage unit in a space not included in its registered business floor area.
Under the Food Sanitation Act, storing food past its use-by date or failing to report major matters such as a change in business floor area can bring up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won.
Crackdowns are continuing this year. Jeonbuk State said on the 12th that it would carry out an intensive crackdown on delivery-only restaurants through the 30th.
The crackdown targets restaurants that specialize in delivery and takeout without on-site dining space. Inspections focus on the use and storage of ingredients past their use-by date, violations of food preservation standards and unregistered business operations.
Jeonbuk State said it would take strict action under the relevant laws if violations are confirmed. With the delivery market expanding, some say continued oversight is needed for cooking environments that consumers cannot check for themselves.
