Foodpanda on bikes

Food, without a doubt, is the most popular product in the delivery service industry. When the delivery service was born many years ago, it was the variety of food products that encouraged the door-to-door service.

Foodpanda, one of the food delivery services in Metro Manila today, started in 2012 in Singapore, with the mission – to create a “convenient service for consumers to order their favorite food from wherever they prefer,” said its Chief Executive Officer Iacopo Rovere.

It introduced the service in the Philippines in 2014 and now operates in three cities –Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao. The Foodpanda app can also be used in other countries including Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

In August this year, the company launched its #GoGreenCampaign and expanded its delivery fleet to include bikers.

Edgar Panuelos, 22, joined the biker-delivery fleet because the pay of his previous job was low, and his wife was pregnant. The new job – which he found in Facebook – rewarded him with enough savings to prepare for his wife’s medical needs and things for the baby.

Kyle Villanueva Ng, 21, was already a freelance bike messenger, got the job after applying through the company’s website.

Hector Maquidato, 31, was a security guard, was curious and followed a Foodpanda biker and asked about the job. A few days later, he submitted his application.

Alberto Perono, 38, was a restaurant bartender who befriended the Foodpanda riders because of a common love for bikes. He bikes from his house in Bulacan to his workplace in Makati. Foodpanda and bikes is to him, a dream job.

Allan Solis, 42, was a stay-at-home dad, who wanted to help support his family. His wife works in Saudi Arabia.

All five bikers said the job and the pay are better in Foodpanda than in the jobs they left behind.

“Dati, kulang ‘yung sahod namin. Ngayon, sobra na (Back then, our salaries were insufficient. Now, we have more),” Perono said.

When asked on what bikers can offer customers that motorcycle-riders cannot, Panuelos said in Pilipino: “What they can deliver in 15 minutes, we can do in 4 to 5 minutes,” Panuelos said.