Food delivery crisis during Ramadan: 1 million orders squeezed into 1 hour
During the month of Ramadan, online food orders intensify just minutes before iftar, leaving restaurants and couriers struggling to keep up with the high demand. Delivery delays and cancelled orders lead to similar grievances every year.
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According to a report by Türkiye newspaper, the distribution of online food orders changes significantly during the month of Ramadan. While approximately 1 million orders are typically placed daily through online food platforms, this volume is compressed into virtually a single hour just minutes before iftar during Ramadan. Due to this surge, restaurant kitchens reach their capacity limits, and couriers are unable to keep up with demand. User reviews and complaints indicate that orders failing to arrive by iftar cause similar problems every year.
THE RUSH BEFORE IFTAR
Industry representatives state that the primary cause of the congestion is the explosion in demand occurring 30 to 45 minutes before iftar. Order traffic, which is calmer throughout the day, peaks as the time for breaking the fast approaches. This intensity causes disruptions in restaurant kitchens and makes it difficult for couriers to complete deliveries.
"THE SYSTEM LOCKS UP AN HOUR BEFORE IFTAR"
Hacı Bayramoğlu, who operates a doner kebab restaurant in Istanbul's Beylikdüzü district, stated that the system locks up an hour before iftar. Bayramoğlu said, "Hundreds of orders come in at the same time. We increase our kitchen capacity and hire extra staff, but it is still difficult to keep up. The biggest problem is orders that are cancelled a few minutes before iftar or turned away because they arrived late. It is impossible to resell those meals. It creates a major problem in terms of both cost and waste."
"FOOD DOES NOT ARRIVE AT THE DOOR AT THE TIME OF THE CALL TO PRAYER"
A courier working for a food platform stated that their phones do not stop ringing 40 to 45 minutes before iftar and that they are forced to make multiple deliveries in the same area. Expressing their difficulties, the couriers said, "Traffic is very heavy, finding parking is a separate issue, and residential complex entrances also cause us to lose time. Naturally, the customer expects the food to be at the door exactly at the time of the call to prayer, but sometimes this is physically impossible."