S. Korea food delivery giants rev up rider race amid coronavirus

On the go: A dispatch rider rides a motorbike as she makes her way to collect a meal to deliver in Seongnam. South Koreans had already developed such an appetite for meal deliveries that the country ranked third in the world last year for food order services. — Reuters

IN South Korea, some of the world’s biggest food delivery firms are scrambling to surf an estimated US$4bil wave of new orders, contracting thousands of new riders in a boom triggered by the scourge of the global economy – the coronavirus pandemic.

South Koreans had already developed such an appetite for meal deliveries that the country ranked third in the world last year for food order services, according to consultancy Euromonitor. Now, tough social distancing rules and work-from-home policies to counter the pandemic have fuelled explosive growth.