Ever wish you were somewhere else on vacation, only to find that time and budget won’t allow for it? When this happens, staying at home might leave you crave for delicious meals from the different destinations you dream of visiting—pad-thai noodles, a serving of gyoza, a piping hot bowl of pho, or simply some freshly-steamed xiao long bao.
Sure, satisfying your cravings can be as easy as finding the restaurant that features these dishes on their menu. But if getting your food fix means braving traffic, it’s too easy to just settle for instant meals from the convenience store nearest to you.
Thankfully, there are several food delivery options available to help you cater to these instant cravings. I’ve actually been hooked on food delivery, considering the conveniences it offers. And of all the services currently available in Metro Manila, foodpanda is the one I use the most. I like that they offer the lowest delivery fee (this ranges between Php15 to Php49) and that the service accepts both cash, card, and PayPal payments. Additionally, they have a lot of discounts and promotions every month!
As a customer who’s used their service these last few months, here are a few reasons why I enjoy using food delivery apps:
It’s A Time-saver
If you plan to visit physical stores just to address your food cravings, imagine the prep time you need to consider: from taking a shower to your drive or commute to the place. If you’re a person like me who enjoy their weekends catching up on sleep and Netflix, it’s a struggle to get your ass out of the house.
Before food delivery apps were a thing, the only other option to stepping out and going to the restaurant yourself is to call the restaurant’s trunk line. This requires great patience, since it was common for the crew to put you on hold due to the volume of people they’re trying to serve. Payment options were also another issue, since most restaurants only work on a cash-on-delivery basis.
There are Regular Discounts and Promotions
Who hates discounts? Not me. In the last 2-3 months, I’ve saved on my delivery fees by availing food from foodpanda’s partners such as Go Bento, Gong Cha, Bon Chon, Frankie’s New York Buffalo Wings, and a lot more! Restaurants such as Din Tai Fung, Wendy’s, and Army Navy also launched promotions that provided discounts from 25-35% and even buy 1/take 1 offers.
You have A Variety of Food Options
In terms of coverage and food options, foodpanda-affiliated restaurants provide a nice spread of cuisines from Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, to Middle Eastern and European food. Milk tea is a current craze and more than five milk tea stores on the app are enough to fix your milk tea cravings. If you’re interested in learning about the latest trends in the Manila food scene, you can also check out their food magazine.
Convenient Payment Methods
Payment options are another big concern when I use food delivery services. While cash-on-delivery isn’t a bad thing, If you accidentally run out of cash on a weekend, you have no choice but to go to the nearest ATM machine to withdraw.
And while debit and credit card options are also good, having PayPal as another valid payment option is honestly terrific! I always have Paypal credits and paying my food delivery via this payment method adds another level of convenience for me.
Real-Time Delivery Tracking
One other great thing about these delivery applications is that they provide a way to know the exact location of your order. With real-time tracking, customers get updates from the moment the restaurant starts preparing the order, to the moment that order is dispatched and picked up by the delivery guy, to finally arriving at your place.
These are just a few of the reasons why I got hooked on using food delivery apps. And I’m sure that most of you can also relate to how convenient and comfortable it makes ordering food. The current system and platform works very well, but I do hope food delivery services consider adding and expanding their features to allow users to order food from different restaurants on a single order. Nonetheless, considering that promotions include free delivery, having the meals done on two order requests is not an issue as of the moment.
Thanks to these food delivery apps for bridging the gap between customers and restaurants by providing convenience, cheap delivery fee, and varied options to their users. So next time your cravings attack, consider downloading that food delivery app on your smartphone.
** Photos were taken from foodpanda website.
