Foodpanda, the global meal delivery service has recently confirmed the launch of Pick-Up, a new option that will let customers order their meals through the foodpanda website or app and pick up their orders from the restaurants themselves. Apparently, foodpanda will become the only food delivery platform in Singapore to enable users to pick up their orders from more than 2,000 restaurant vendors.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, these participating vendors would represent over one third of foodpanda's 6,000 restaurants in the country. They include Fun Toast, 4Fingers Crispy Chicken, Krispy Kreme, Gong Cha, The Soup Spoon, Toast Box, KFC and Starbucks.

Mr. Luc Andreani, Foodpanda Singapore’s managing director was quoted saying that Pick-Up would be an essential service for people in Singapore. There is a wide range of restaurants available, but mostly customers do not have the time to navigate the queues, particularly people from the Central Business District (CBD), he said.

Mr. Andreani stated that in a recent study by DBS Bank, it was found that on an average 24 minutes are spent by Singaporeans in queuing for lunch in the CBD, which amounts to over 100 hours per year. With Pick-Up, restaurant partners of foodpanda will be able to more efficiently manage mean orders and possibly even witness increased number of people they can serve in one day, he added.

According to the sources, Pick-Up will not charge a delivery fees for users, or apply a minimum order value limit. This would offer a more convenient solution to people who experience coffee queues early in the morning, during lunchtime and dinner time, Mr. Andreani explained.

Supposedly, Pick-Up’s business model would be similar to that of Foodpanda's meal delivery service, where the platform charges a commission to the restaurant on every order. The only difference would be no delivery fee or a minimum order value.