Have someone do your heavy lifting for you

As we were driving to Honestbee’s afternoon press launch today, we got stuck in horrendous traffic in C5. A drive that should have taken 45 minutes to an 1 hour tops took an arduous 2 and 1/2 hours to complete. Aside from the stress of driving in stop-and-go traffic (in Manila, no less), we could not help but wonder what other, more productive things we could have been doing with our time sitting behind the wheel.

That’s basically the elevator pitch of Honestbee to us when we arrived at their event, tired from the morning traffic of C5: they’ll take care of the hassle of driving to and from the grocery, picking the freshest, best ingredients possible and delivering it straight to your door for a minimal fee.

Here’s the deal: Honestbee is an app that allows you to order groceries, food and even ask someone to pick up your laundry for you, all from the comfort of your home. The app is already a hit in other countries like Singapore where they’ve partnered with other grocery stores but unlike that island nation Honestbee has partnered with only Robinson’s Supermarket for groceries.

As we said earlier you’ll be able to virtually browse the aisles of Robinson’s, and once you’re done you just check out and select the payment method of your choice. There are set schedules for grocery delivery throughout the day, though Honestbee assures us that you’ll be able to get your stuff as early as 11am if you order in the morning.

Selecting your address is as easy as dropping a pin on the map, and you can even send groceries to other addresses as well. There’s a Php 99 concierge fee and another Php 150 delivery fee which is currently down to just Php 99 for a limited time. If your groceries go over Php 1,500, that delivery fee is waived and you just pay the concierge fee.

Sure, paying Php 250 per delivery on top of the normal amount you pay for groceries may seem a bit high, but not having to deal with the stress of driving to the store is worth it. You also won’t have to physically line up or lug your stuff around with you, and realistically most Filipino families pay way more than Php 1,500 per grocery trip so you’re just basically paying for the concierge fee.

HonestBee also incorporates food and laundry services in the app. The app shows you the food choices available within your area, and also shows you the wait times per order. While there’s a fixed schedule for laundry and grocery deliveries, food orders are delivered as soon as they’re ready.

Coverage for the service right now is only limited to Metro Manila, though Honestbee says that they’re already looking to expand to other areas as well. The rule of thumb here is that as long as there’s a Robinson’s Supermarket nearby, Honestbee should be able to deliver the goods.