LG U+ offers soup-to-nuts internet service to restaurants

LG U+ rolls out an internet service package for restaurant owners. [LG U+]

LG U+ released an internet service tailored for restauranteurs that offers high-resolution cameras, tax advice and software to keep track of sales.

For the product, the mobile carrier teamed up with TheBorn Korea, a food franchise companies run by TV celebrity Paik Jong-won, and nine other companies.

The package includes discount coupons from Baedal Minjok, the delivery app operator, and start-ups that offer disinfection services and software for sales analysis. It will be available for restaurant owners that subscribe to LG U+'s internet network at 25,300 won ($22) per month.

According to the mobile carrier, the benefits are worth around one million won, assuming the store uses all the offers for one year.

"After the Covid-19 outbreak, restaurant owners had to take on new tasks apart from cooking: They had to make sure disinfection rules are met, and packaging and managing delivery app orders became an issue as delivery demand soared," said Kim Hyun-min, the director of LG U+'s SOHO business unit, during a press event Tuesday. The team specializes in developing services for small businesses.

"Our goal was to ease the burden of owners that had to take on these new tasks alone," Kim added.

The service targeting restauranteurs is part of the mobile carrier's efforts to expand business-to-business sales, compared to a past when telecom businesses put a bigger focus on selling phone plans to general customers.

Among 3.3 million businesses owned by individuals last year, 20 percent were restaurants, according to the company. With the new service, LG hopes to increase the number of its internet subscribers by 40 percent on year in 2021 and increase sales by a fourfold from 2020 to 2025.

For an additional 13,200 won per month, LG U+ will install a surveillance camera that rotates 360 degrees and can zoom in five times so owners check up on food and hygiene. Controlling the camera and zooming will be available remotely via the store owner's smartphone.

Domino's Pizza has signed up to install cameras in 108 branches nationwide to monitor whether the pizzas are properly made and the kitchens are kept clean.

Domino's Pizza, for example, has signed up to install cameras in 108 branches nationwide to monitor whether the pizzas are properly made and the kitchens are maintained clean.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr[