Puerto Princesa City residents now have the convenience to order food online using the recently launched application “HappyApp” and enjoy a wide range of choices from a growing list of establishments around the city.
Kenn Braña, HappyApp assistant general manager, said they developed the business concept and the software application in the midst of the quarantine to help meet the needs of the community. The company felt it was also a positive way to contribute to the local economy by helping provide jobs to those displaced by the current pandemic.
“Na-conceptualize ito since nagkaroon tayo ng pandemic. We wanted to help the community, and foremost kasi maraming businesses ang nangangailangan ng food delivery at the same time,” he said during the HappyApp launch on Monday.
The application is small enough to occupy low memory storage in cellular phones and the stability of connection in the city will not hamper the speed of delivery.
The food delivery service covers as far as Barangay Sta. Lourdes and Barangay Irawan with P45 fixed rate delivery charge for the month of August.
“Real time si HappyApp, business to business transaction tayo dito ibig sabihin from customer direct to the merchant. Pagdating sa customer and rider, meron talagang interaction like real time kasi ‘yong Happy App natin, ibig sabihin we have GPS, google map, napaka-real time ng application natin and streamline ‘yon,” he said.
The customer may track the location of the delivery rider to monitor the arrival of the food request.
Atty. Patrick Tan, HappyApp general manager, said the locally developed application said he also sees HappyApp being able to help many food establishments whose sales have declined following the lockdowns and are struggling to survive and to avoid having to let go of their staff.
“Gusto namin i-encourage ‘yong mga bata lalo na ‘yong mga below 18 kasi naka-lockdown sila sa mga bahay nila. Siyempre lahat sila may cravings din like Jollibee, favorite milktea nila. Ngayon, hindi na nila kailangan makigulo pa sa parents nila na bilhan sila bago umuwi, anytime na magutom sila, may smartphones naman sila, puwede na sila umorder ng food nila,” he said.
Tan highlighted that one good thing about the app is once the order was chosen, the merchant immediately prepares it so the rider will just pick it up and be delivered in a short time span.
The requests will only be accommodated depending on the operating hours of the merchant and the schedule of curfew in the city.
Currently, HappyApp already has 21 partner merchants posting the available food on their menu for the customers to choose from. Interested merchants who want to join may visit their page on Facebook to get further detail.
Tan said that they currently have 10 riders and most of them lost their previous jobs due to the effect of the pandemic.
“Yong mga rider kasi hindi namin sila employees, sa bawat order, doon sila kumikita. Parang nagbibigay lang ng allowance. More order, nakakatulong din tayo sa kapwa natin at sa families nila. Kaunti lang share namin doon, the rest sa rider na,” he said.
He said HappyApp is also open even the small entrepreneurs to avoid long queues on their shops and stalls and also help the sellers to efficiently deliver their goods.
Tan also envisions to help farmers sell their agricultural products through the use of the application.
He said they are looking forward to bring in 100 stores in HappyApp in the next three months.
After a month, he said they will be venturing to offer grocery deliveries for the locals. The items of the particular store will be uploaded in the application and once the virtual shopping has done, the store will prepare the items to be picked up by the rider.
Kareeza Faith Tullo also known as Tita Kim, the ambassadress of HappyApp, said that she has proven the convenience brought by the application which only takes from 20 to 30 minutes for the food request to be delivered. The application is both accessible in any smartphone and can be downloaded from Google play and App store.
“Happy App is the very first app-based delivery in Palawan. We all know that during this pandemic, a lot of people ang hindi nakakalabas sa kanilang tahanan. It’s been a struggle to have food on their tables dahil hindi nga makalabas so I am very proud to say na marami sa atin ang gusto magkaroon ng delivery app na ito,” she said.
Tullo highlighted the fact that HappyApp was produced by Palaweños for local use. She added that they are working on its improvements and continuous upgrading and will soon be available in cashless payments such as GCash and Paymaya.
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