Durban - Food delivery service Mr D Food will resume its full operations from Friday, and ready to deliver from restaurants across the country.
Mr D Food chief executive Devin Sinclair said: "As a South African brand, we are proud to offer a crucial service during lockdown to ensure we are all doing our part to support government initiatives to promote social distancing.
"Delivering from restaurants, convenience stores and Checkers MediRite pharmacies on the platform is just one way we are supporting South Africans during the lockdown period while making sure they can stay indoors."
Much like the rest of the restaurant industry, Mr D Food has been hard hit by the lockdown. The opening up of restaurants for food delivery will allow Mr D Food and restaurants to try recover from the devastating impact that five weeks of lockdown has had on businesses.
Mr D hopes to offer a lifeline and facilitate a revenue stream for the thousands of restaurants across the country – from local neighbourhood favourites to established franchise chains – that have been impacted by the lockdown.
As a delivery platform with a national footprint and an established audience, Mr D Food offers a built-in ecosystem which can help restaurants deliver without having to operate and maintain their own delivery service.
"We will also be implementing initiatives to support the restaurant industry as they reopen. As a first step, we are introducing a commission relief scheme which reduces the commission rates for the vast majority of our restaurants partners.
"We have also allocated marketing funds to drive promotional initiatives to generate orders and revenue for neighborhood restaurants.
"Last, we will be launching a new feature in the Mr D Food app that will allow customers to support their favourite restaurants, by making a Covid-19 contribution directly to the restaurant when placing a delivery order," said Sinclair.
Contactless delivery has now been implemented, with drivers instructed not to make physical contact with customers and to maintain a safe distance. Bags will be placed on a surface indicated by the customer.
Customers can only pay using the payment methods available in-app, credit or debit card, instant EFT or eBucks.
All Mr D Food deliveries are now contactless. Watch to learn more about our measures to support social distancing. pic.twitter.com/VaLdp6hYzB
— Mr D Food (@mrdfood) April 29, 2020
Driver’s bags are frequently cleaned, and all drivers have access to hand sanitiser with clear instructions to sanitise their hands before and after each delivery or collection.
All drivers are now temperature tested daily at each of the driver hubs. Protective masks have been rolled out for all drivers. Mr D Food has also communicated with restaurant partners that they follow the relevant World Health Organization guidelines for their businesses.
Recently, FNB announced that Mr D Food is the latest partner to join its eBucks Rewards programme. Customers will order from their favourite restaurants on the Mr D Food App, using their pre-loaded qualifying FNB/RMB Private Bank cards to pay.
Once the order has been placed, they need to opt in to earn eBucks by choosing the ‘Earn eBucks’ option and enter their SA ID number.