The food delivery service is among the sectors that grew amid the pandemic. Its huge impact to the restaurant industry won’t be possible without its fleet of riders.
The men and women of foodpanda serve as the hands and feet of the consumers who simply want their food and grocery to be safely delivered straight to their homes and workplaces.
As an on-demand food and grocery delivery service, foodpanda rolled out the PandaToda program to help idle tricycle drivers get back on the road with new livelihood and purpose.
Among them is Antonio Sarmiento, a tricycle driver of 13 years. He now wears a smile, much different from his tone in March 2020. Upon learning that they had to stay off the roads and stay inside their homes, he was left clueless on what to do next. He had no idea how else to make a living and had no choice but hope for the best.
A few months later, Sarmiento was informed by his local Tricycle Operators and Drivers’ Association that foodpanda is presenting drivers like him with a new job opportunity as a rider. Excited, he quickly enlisted under the program along with 18 of his friends.
Making the transition from transporting passengers to food orders was no small task. The biggest adjustment was operating on a much larger area, as opposed to the limited routes granted to tricycle drivers. Nonetheless, Sarmiento was quick to adjust, and is now happy and settled as a foodpanda rider.
Unlike the veteran Sarmiento, Jun Sanchez was just starting his career as a tricycle driver when the ECQ was imposed. Sanchez lived in Butuan most of his life, but he decided to try his luck in Manila and took the first job available to him as a tricycle driver. But just when he was making his strides, he was told that they had to stop operations.
Sanchez spent the following months sustaining his family using the small savings he was able to set aside. Just before it was depleted, he received an invite to join the PandaTODA program.
“I was nervous at first,” he said. “But it gives me excitement and pleasant feeling to see my satisfies customers.”
Aside from giving him new ways to earn money, the PandaToda program also afforded Sanchez the work flexibility that he has never experienced in his life.
“With PandaToday, I found a schedule that allows me to get home early to my family,” he said.
Meanwhile, John Bolanos felt a mix of excitement and anxiety when he was told about the PandaToda program.
He was ecstatic about the new opportunity, but also nervous about the prospect of starting in a new job, under a new system, after working as a tricycle driver for eight years.
Bolanos recalled his main concern during his very first delivery. He was extremely cautious to keep the food from spilling, he said.
Nothing was spilled that day, and it was a successful delivery that ended with an exchange of smiles with a happy customer.
While he was anxious about entering the PandaToda program, Bolanos quickly learned that foodpanda set up an efficient system that helps newbies like him ease into the program.
“It was an easy adjustment to use the foodpanda app. The riders also helped one another. It seemed like I found a new family,” he said.
While life has been anything but easy for anyone, foodpanda continues to deliver solutions to help people in any way possible. Under the PandaToday program, tricycle drivers get more than a new livelihood. They also enjoy the perks and rewards that go with being part of the foodpanda family.
