#BTFocus – Your favorite foods at your fingertips . . . New secure food delivery APP launched in Barbados

Creativity and innovation have joined hands with culinary advances to bring an exciting, new development to Barbados dining and hospitality, leading food lovers and appetites to restaurateurs and their exciting creations.

With an increasingly fast-paced lifestyle, reliance on digital technology and the advent of COVID-19, Barbados and the rest of the world are seeing greater demand for simple and easy services that can provide consumers with what they need in an instant.

Enter PayMeal, the new mobile application which brings food to consumers across the island. The Apple and Android mobile app is poised to change the way islanders eat and how restaurants are run, standing as a direct bridge between supply and demand.

The app which was launched in Antigua & Barbuda in November 2019, is free for download on all platforms. Conceptualized and developed by young Caribbean minds, PayMeal brings together restaurants large and small from across the island using the GPS Mapping Technology on the users’ handsets, making a complete menu of delicacies for delivery and pickup instantly available.

“Whether it is fine-dining, something off the grill or fast-food, we are making restaurants a mere thought and app access away,” says Director Jon Birch.

He notes that the app provides an equal platform for all food producers and goes as far as to introduce those who possess the culinary talent but lack the means of opening an official restaurant to the food-producing arena.

Birch says PayMeal’s vision is to operate in every Caribbean island, giving all access to a wide range of restaurants as they travel between islands with the same ease you have here in Barbados.

“For the multitude of young people in the local industry looking to own restaurants or get started with their culinary careers, PayMeal now lifts that barrier to market entry and allows for growth and market penetration,” Birch said.

On the technical side, PayMeal is available on three fronts – PayMeal, for consumers; PayMeal Manager for restaurateurs; and PayMeal Driver, connecting restaurants and consumers on the delivery end. Each app functions independently yet can connect seamlessly. It runs on a Google satellite platform that maps in real-time customer and restaurant, and then customer and driver. The latter takes away from the usually cumbersome task of giving delivery directions.

Push notifications services are available to all restaurants to announce specials, menu updates, and more. It goes further to alert individual customers of their order status from order accepted to ready for pickup or delivery.

“We sought to strengthen the security side for our customers who can track the driver, see a photo, know the make and model of vehicle and license plate.

“What we have sought to do is soften the link between food and cravings. Often, we crave a specific thing but can’t quite recall where we last had it or, even better, [which location] has the best composition. So PayMeal now allows customers to refine their search not only by the restaurant closest to them but also by what is on each restaurant’s menu. The menu search is what we believe will have a considerable impact,” said Mr Birch.

Both restaurateurs and customers are invited to download the PayMeal app on their respective devices to experience the power of food access at their fingertips. Restaurants already registered for orders and deliveries will be announced through push notification to app users, local press and social media platforms. (PR)

PayMeal is also poised to create a more balanced playing field for food-loving visitors to the island – offering a more comprehensive listing of restaurant and dining options – allowing them to better plan their experiences even before arriving on the island.