Surge in delivery orders expected this weekend
Food delivery companies are expecting a surge in orders over the weekend as stricter Covid-19 restrictions begin tomorrow.
Starting May 8, groups can only gather in a maximum size of five people - down from eight, affecting plans by some to commemorate Mother’s Day at restaurants.
“Given recent developments, we are expecting more people to stay home and order in for Mother’s Day,” a Foodpanda spokesman told The New Paper.
To minimise delays, customers are encouraged to place pre-orders if possible or to order before 5pm or after 7.30pm to avoid break fast timings.
Customers are also encouraged to pick up their orders.
A Deliveroo spokesman said festive occasions like Mother’s Day, Christmas and Chinese New Year always see an escalation in orders. Such an increase is expected this weekend, given the new measures.
But the delivery companies are confident that they can manage this surge in demand.
Said the Deliveroo spokesman: “Our proprietary algorithm Frank is designed to take into account various factors including riders’ profiles, distance, weather and duration of orders to ensure all riders reach customers in the shortest possible time, while our rider supply team uses data analytics to match supply and demand, ensuring that we have the right number of riders on the road in the right place at any one time.”
A Grab spokesman said: “We are constantly refining our back-end system to help our merchant- and delivery-partners better cope with the expected spike in demand during this festive period.
“Leveraging live data collected and feedback from delivery-partners, we will be monitoring the demand and supply of orders to make real-time adjustments to help merchant-partners that are facing difficulties in fulfilling orders.”
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