A Coupang Eats' delivery worker delivers food on his bicycle in Seoul on Jan. 29, 2021. Courtesy of Coupang Eats

By Kim Jae-heun

Restaurant owners expressed their frustration, Sunday, toward Coupang Eats as the online food delivery platform suffered nearly three hours of server malfunction during the busy lunch period. The malfunction was first reported around noon and lasted until 3 p.m., making it impossible for restaurants to receive online orders through one of Korea's largest food delivery sites.

Customers kept placing orders, but they did not connect to the restaurant owners, they said. Many even waited an hour until they realized that the mobile application server went down and cancelled their purchases. Coupang Eats' platform showed a message that said "the page couldn't be found due to an unknown error."

The food delivery firm made an apology later, saying its mobile application malfunctioned.

"We apologize for causing inconvenience to our customers. We will contact every individual to notify our online system error," a Coupang Eats official said.

In response, restaurant owners are demanding compensation from Coupang.

"Sunday afternoon is one of the busiest times of the week. Coupang Eats ruined our business, but it is trying to weasel its way out by simply apologizing. It has to compensate us for our loss during those three hours" a salad restaurant owner surnamed Kim said.

A local union of self-employed people also issued a statement.

"We request reasonable compensation from Coupang Eats (for its server malfunction on Sunday). We will analyze our expected sales and various fixed costs including rent, electricity usage and labor expense during the system error period and ask Coupang Eats to reimburse our loss," the union said in a statement.

Meanwhile, restaurant owners have been complaining about Coupang Eats' commission fee hikes, which inevitably increased the costs of food delivery.

"Before asking for more money, they should do their job. If their server continues to malfunction in the future, we will see no reason to use Coupang Eats," Kim said.