February 5 (SeeNews) - The Romanian unit of online food delivery platform Foodpanda said on Tuesday it plans to double the number of its listed restaurants to 2,000 this year.
The platform also expects an increase in online payments in 2019, especially with the introduction of a payment option through Google Pay, it said in a press release.
The company is basing its expectations on data from 2018, when more than 66% of all orders placed with foodpanda Romania were made using the mobile application. However, 75% of customers preferred to pay cash in 2018.
Foodpanda also said that throughout 2018 that the percentage of Romanians who order online food has been steadily rising.
The platform saw a 130% increase the number of orders placed in 2018, with the busiest period of the year being in the fourth quarter, due to the cold weather.
"From year to year, we see a growing increase in appetite for ordered food among Romanians, supported mainly by the ease of the process of ordering, but also by the diversity of our kitchens and restaurants. For the current year, we intend to emphasize this growth, with doubling the number of restaurants listed on the platform, " foodpanda Romania country manager Radu Balaceanu said.
According to the company's centralized data, the average national average paid last year for foodpanda orders in Romania amounted to about 55 lei, ($13/12 euro) with Bucharest spending the most, with an average order of over 70 lei. Next was Galati with an average order of 61.3 lei, Sibiu (60.85 lei) Cluj (60 lei) and Constanţa (59.05 lei).
Foodpanda.ro is currently collaborating with over 1,000 restaurants in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Brasov, Constanta, Arad, Ploiesti, Oradea, Galati, Craiova, Sibiu and Buzau.
Foodpanda is part of Germany-based Delivery Hero Group - the biggest food delivery platform in the world, operating in more than 40 markets worldwide.
In August, Delivery Hero Group acquired Romanian food delivery company hipMenu for an undisclosed sum.
(1 euro=4.7546 lei)