Staff from abroad cater to international customers’ needs


Office worker Lee Jong-min was surprised to see Southeast Asian workers at Bulgogi Brothers in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on Monday.

“I found it interesting that now foreigners are even working in the service field here,” said Lee.

Four employees from Malaysia are working at the fusion Korean cuisine chain’s Gwanghwamun branch. They are under a three-month training program here, as they will be working as managers at three Malaysian branches of the restaurant due to open in August and September.

“Employees at overseas branches have the responsibility of introducing Korean food and service to other countries. So those above manager-level have to undergo mandatory training in Korea,” said Kim Jae-yoon of WellCom Associates, the PR agency for Bulgogi Brothers.

The training covers education on Korean culture as well as traditional food and serving manners. Visits to royal palaces, a Korean folk village, traditional restaurants and dairy farms are included in the program.

“It is a big opportunity to come all the way to Korea and learn its culture. We are noticing Korean culture in Malaysia, and Korean cuisine is getting big there. We will be one of the first few to open a Korean restaurant, with proper education on the culture,” said Kevin Koh, one of the Malaysian employees who started his training this week.

Foreign employees have become a more common sight throughout Seoul in the past few years. One of the many reasons for hiring them, as in the case of Bulgogi Brothers, is to launch an overseas branch.

The restaurant is accelerating its globalization: It has opened two stores in the Philippines and one in Richmond, Canada, since September 2011, and is planning to open more in Malaysia and the Philippines. Employees at the existing branches received training in Seoul as well.

The Gwanghwamun branch is the most appropriate for training, said trainer Maggie, because most of the customers speak English. The trainees are still learning basic Korean because the menus are also in Korean, though written out in Roman characters, in overseas stores.

The trainees said they noticed many differences in terms of food culture between the two countries, like how Korean restaurants leave things to be cooked in front of customers while Malaysian restaurants cook everything in the kitchen.

“We learned things that require a higher level of service, like how to put down rice bowls and how to arrange rice in rice bowls. We don’t just flip-flop bulgogi (when we grill it at the table), there are ways of doing it. We are also going to be teaching the community (at home) about Korean food culture, and I think it will really be an eye-opener,” said Quentin Alexander Smith, a chef who finished his training this week.

Foreign employees are also found at Lotte Department Store in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, which has been hiring them during the last few years to gear up for overseas launches. The employees could be sent out to stores in their home countries, said a PR official of the department store. 

“Working overseas is a great experience, and will also be a merit if I get to get a job in Indonesia,” said Karen Samroni, an employee from Indonesia who is working in the men’s trendy casual section.

It would be better to reconsider some of the service culture here before directly applying it in Indonesia, she said, for example shouting to attract customers.

“I, an Indonesian, would not like to be approached in such an aggressive way,” she said.

Myeong-dong in central Seoul, in particular, is an area where foreign-language speaking employees are more frequently found than Korean speakers. Many of them are from overseas.

In the five Myeong-dong branches of Aritaum, run by Amore Pacific, 25 of the total 43 shop clerks are Chinese or Japanese.

The cosmetics company started to hire them in 2009 as the number of foreign visitors shot up. It is to meet the needs of Chinese customers, especially, who make up 70 to 80 percent of the customers in Myeong-dong, said Kwon Sung-hye, PR official at Amore Pacific.

“I approach the customers first, if I hear them speak Chinese, and tell them that I am Chinese. They seem very happy and comfortable to know that there are Chinese staff,” said Yuan Jing Jin, who has worked at the store since 2010.

Not surprisingly, most of the foreign customers who visited the shop were already aware that they would find employees from their home countries there.

“A friend recommended this store (saying) that there is a Chinese employee working here,” said June, a 26-year-old tourist from Singapore who shopped at Aritaum on Wednesday.

Qin Wen Lian, a Chinese student who has been studying in Korea for three years, said that she always visits the Myeong-dong central shop of Aritaum to be assisted by the Chinese clerk.

“It is convenient because I can communicate without difficulty,” she said. 

Swedish fast-fashion brand H&M constantly has foreign employees who come from other H&M branches all over the world, both in long-term exchanges of few years to short-term dispatches to help the opening of new stores or events.

About four staff members currently work at stores including two Myeong-dong branches, and about one third of the office workers are expats, said Cheong Hae-jin, PR official at H&M.

“Staff from over 17 countries came to support when the first store opened in Korea,” she said.

“H&M is a global company which encourages many exchanges between the branches. That is the way to show the same quality of H&M in every shop throughout the world.”

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)