When food meets technology
You’ve probably seen those ubiquitous pink riders carrying pink food bags navigating the busy streets of Metro Manila. It’s Foodpanda, the online food ordering and delivery service in the country.
Indeed, times have changed and more and more Filipinos are using online food delivery services to buy their food. Blame it on traffic, parking woes and long queues in restaurants, people nowadays want the convenience of having their food delivered right to their doorsteps.
Today, most Filipinos also no longer rely on the resident delivery boys of fast food chains. And they no longer just order food from fastfood chains. With Foodpanda, which basically provides riders who pick up food from restaurants and deliver them to the client’s doorsteps, customers have a better options and choices where to order their food.
Since its creation, the ondemand food delivery service has grown to more than 27,000 partner restaurants in more than 190 cities across 10 Asian and Central European countries.
Foodpanda is active in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Romania and Bulgaria. The company was acquired by Berlin-based Delivery Hero in December 2016 and has since been rebranded to sport a pink panda.
Unknown to many, Foodpanda started its operations in the Philippines five years ago, which makes it a pioneer of sorts in the local online food delivery space. It has undergone major changes in the previous years but it is still first and foremost focused on one thing – which is to deliver food efficiently to its customers.
“Foodpanda is an online food delivery service and we are hyper-focused on that. What makes us unique is that we are only focused on one vertical, we’re all focused on food,” said Cheena Abellon, Foodpanda head of marketing.
“We look at sustainability and because we are focused on food delivery, we can play around that landscape and how people can get access to their food by delivery or pickup,” Abellon said.
Since its launch in the country, Abellon said the people behind Foodpanda learned that Filipinos want value for their money. “Adjusting to Filipino culture is a learning experience. Up to this point, we are adjusting our way of communicating our brand identity in order to resonate to the users and the Philippine market,” Abellon said.
“So with regards to our pricing, we ensure that we don’t mark up the prices. The prices on the menu should be the same on the delivery. Filipinos are very critical of the price,”Abellon said.
Abellon said that Foodpanda still need to learn a lot, especially in providing service to their clients. In other countries, Foodpanda is already matured and advanced. For the local market, Foodpanda is still learning a lot about the preferences of Filipino clients.
“It’s a continuous learning experience for us. We get to do research, understand different delivery processes in other countries, in which we can evaluate like whether or not this is something applicable in the Philippines, in order for us to deliver good service – that goes both in technology and manpower. We try to localize our service,” she said.
Asked what major challenges they’ve encountered while they were introducing Food Panda in the country, Abellon said it’s defining Foodpanda and what is it about. In the past, it has been mistaken for a restaurant.
“Up to this point that we’re launching in the cities, we have to communicate that we’re an online food delivery service and not a restaurant. That was one of the challenges before and I think one of the good things that happened in the last two years was when we re-branded,” Abellon said.
Asked if traditional dining will be a thing of the past, Abellon disagreed. “In the coming years, online food delivery services will not exactly take over the dining experience in restaurants but it will go side by side. Yes, there are some that will be automated, but I think online food delivery services will become ancillary for physical stores, an opportunity for them to tap into new markets or reach top markets,” she said.
Abellon said Foodpanda is happy that it’s able to help SMES and fledgeling restaurants and food joints grow their businesses. “Foodpanda gives them the option of delivery or pick-up. Aside from regular customers who come to their restaurants, they can have additional sales from the Foodpanda’s service. And they don’t need to build a bigger space or open another franchise if their budget is not yet sufficient, they can rely on delivery services for the additional sales,”Abellon said.
Food Panda is currently operating in key cities in the country: Manila, Cebu, Davao and recently operated in Pampanga, Cavite and Laguna.