‘Yogurt ladies’ deliver more than dairy in South Korea
SEOUL, SOUTHKOREA— An hour beforedawn, KangHyejeongwas already out cruisingonher battery-runmobile refrigerator, brisklymoving through alleys in Cheongdam-dong, a district of southern Seoul.
She parked her refrigerator and darted among apartments and office buildings, door to door and desk to desk, punching in building entry codes with ease as if she were another family member or colleague.
But to her loyal customers, Kang is simply known as a “yakult ajumma.”
Dressed in beige uniforms and quick with smiles and greetings, yakult ajummas have been fixtures in South Korea for decades. They sell yakult — a sweet, drinkable yogurt invented in Japan in the 1930s— fromrefrigerated carts. In many Korean communities, they have evolved from door- to- door saleswomen to surrogate mothers, daughters and aunts.
Ajummais a Koreanword often used affectionately to describemiddle-agedwomen with children.
“I deliver yogurt but also cheerfulness and energy,” said Kang, 47, a yakult ajumma since 2012, who knows her customers’orders by heart. “People, especially the elderly, feel good to see a cheerful and hardworking woman, and some of them eventually start buying from me.”
Kang was flagged down by a neighbor who bought yogurt but also gave her some of his rice cake. An old janitor greeted herwarmly and gave her a cup of coffee in the chilly morning.
“She is always on time, with her smile and greeting,” said Lee Hae-sook, a wineshop owner. “I buy yogurt from her and she helps me
start my morning feeling good. It’s a win-win deal for both of us.”
Yakult ajummas have a long history in Korea.
In the early 1970s, the government provided farm subsidies to promote the country’s livestock industry. The growing cow business created a milk surplus because Koreans at the time had little appetite for dairy products. So Korea Yakult, in a joint venture with Yakult Honsha of Japan, introduced a sweet probiotic drink made fromfermented milk, advertising the health benefits of “yusangyun,” or lactic acid bacteria, long before probiotic drinks became a part of the health food vernacular.
There are roughly 11,000 yakult ajummas in South Korea, the nation’s largest female- only, home- delivery sales network. Half of them can be seen cruising around Seoul, riding their sleek mobile refrigerators called CoCos, short for “cold and cool.”
Yakult ajummas have been credited with helping to establish South Korea’s taste for dairy, and are so ubiquitous theyhavebecome minor pop culture celebrities. Their image has given rise to a song, and K- pop stars have even tried to do
the job for a day.
Jeon Deuk- soon, 49, started working in Bongcheon- dong, a district in southwestern Seoul, as a yakult ajumma 17 years ago. The hilly neighborhood dottedwith car-repair shopsand sewing factories has been her beat ever since.
Jeonfirst carried heryakult in a push- and- pull trolley packed with blocks of ice to keep her drinks cool. When an alley got too narrow or steep, or when she faced steps, she switched to an insulated cooler bag slung over her shoulder.
“Imagine howI feltwhen I faced a three-block stretch of uphill climb,” Jeon said. “But I have always been constant, walking my streets whether it sweltered, snowed or rained.”
In 2015, as the proliferation of refrigerated trucks and convenience stores brought stiff competition to the market, Korea Yakult introduced the CoCo. The vehicle, which looks like a cross between a Segway and a golf cart, has helped rejuvenate sales by allowing the womentozoomup to 5mph on busy streets. Its 220-liter fridge carries cheese, coldbrew, fresh eggs and meat and even meal kits.