MANILA, Philippines – I would often crave the most random food and drink – burrito, a big bowl of salad if I’m feeling healthy, fruit smoothies, and of course, milk tea – at the most random of times. Sometimes I’m at home, cooped up in my bedroom. Sometimes I’m in the office, itching to get some merienda and a break from work.

Since the cravings are so random and we are now in a cashless generation, I would often be caught without any cash on hand. If this were the 90s, that would mean going to the bank to withdraw money and going to the nearest restaurant myself. I could call to have it delivered but I would still need some cash.

Fortunately, we’re no longer in the 90s. We’re in the age of on-demand service. And that includes the food industry. Now, I can just pick up my phone, open an app and conveniently wait for my cravings to get satisfied.   

In the Philippines, we’re lucky to have a few food delivery apps to choose from. One of the most ubiquitous ones is foodpanda. Their riders clad in pink long sleeves shirts carrying pink insulated bags are now a familiar sight in restaurants and on the road. 

It’s no wonder. foodpanda has onboarded more restaurants in 2019. This includes the Moment Group which covers Manam, Ooma, 8cuts, Din Tai Fung and coffee shops like Tim Hortons and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. foodpanda also has vegan and vegetarian restaurants that cater to customers who prefer healthier options like Cosmic, Green Bar, and The Good Seed.

They’ve also started serving more and more cities outside of Metro Manila. The streets of Baguio, Pampanga, Naga, Tagaytay, Cavite (Bacoor, Imus), Laguna (San Pedro), Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Tacloban, General Santos, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro have now gone pink.  

As a frequent user of food delivery apps, what makes foodpanda a cut above the rest in terms of convenience is its card payment option. This hasn’t only helped me satisfy my food cravings even if I didn’t have any cash on hand, this has also been proven very useful at times that I needed to order big batches of food for work or family celebrations. The deals aren’t just much cheaper, delivery is also faster than their other delivery apps. You can even get special access to events and other promos all in one app.

If you’ve seen foodpanda’s very pink billboards along EDSA and other major highways and national roads, they also offer these unbelievable promo codes. It sounds too good to be true at times but they actually work. One of my favorites was the “Octoberfeast” code which let the user get 20% off on all orders during the whole month of October. And this love month, discounts are up to 50% off and delivery is free for the whole of February.

More than the convenience, foodpanda is also changing the game in terms of environmental impact. They’ve launched a series of green efforts last year in line with their Go Green Campaign including the opt-in/out cutlery initiative (an option to not have single-use plastic utensils to go with your order) and bike delivery service. We might even see walkers as part of their delivery fleet in the future.

And it’s not only the consumers who are feeling the foodpanda effect but their partner restaurants as well. Though they’ve been successful as they are, restaurants like Frankie’s New York Buffalo Wings, Hummus Elijah, and 101 Hawker Food House were able to reach and serve more customers through the food delivery app.    

This 2020, we can only expect more from foodpanda: more cities to paint pink, more partner restaurants, more unbelievable discounts, still the lowest delivery fee, and for them to stay true their promise to deliver while we enjoy. – Rappler.com