COVID and the food delivery industry

Just when the second wave was over, and the lives of people were about to come back on track, the third wave hit the world. To reduce the mass, the government has implemented the rule of odd and even numbers for vehicles, which commonly known as a smart lockdown.

Many businesses are going through a lot of financial problems, however online food deliveries are finding their market during this time. They have become saviors for people who do not want to get out of their house and yet enjoy their favorite cuisines at home.

Barsha Lamichhane, accountant of Food Busters said, "We used to only deliver food during previous lockdown but it’s been a year since we started delivering groceries too. We started this from the last lockdown as the restaurants were not allowed to open due to the pandemic.”

“We are also facing a few problems during this smart lockdown but we are managing it smoothly. We have almost 20-25 riders, and all of our riders are vaccinated”, she adds.

“Before the pandemic, there was nothing to fear. But after the lockdown happened and then everything was reopened, we started to give our first priority to safety measures while delivering the food”, she adds further.

For online food delivery, they are being careful and taking precautions for their customers. If the riders are not vaccinated, they are not allowed to go for deliveries. According to Food Busters, the most ordered cuisines by their customers are Italian, fast foods, and sweets. There is also a high order of groceries which they supply from Bhatbhateni. 

Similarly, Suraksha Hamal, the marketing manager of Pathao Food said that, “Our food delivery is running very well. Due to the rapid spread of COVID, people are preferring takeaway rather than visiting the restaurants themselves. So we are getting a good number of food delivery orders everyday.”

Explaining about the protocols they are using while delivering food, she adds, “Our staff are very careful and we are adopting safety measures. They use hand sanitizer before and after delivering food.” Most ordered dishes in Pathao Food are the one which is loved by most of the Nepalese like momo, burger, biryani and pizza.