A new delivery system was set in Ifrane, which made great changes in the lifestyles of its people.
Soufiane Bahemmou, 28, is Ifrane’s main delivery service guy. He wears his dark grey cap, picks up his phone and takes a quick look at his orders through his company’s new delivery app, Ifrane Delivery, starts up his engine and heads to a popular restaurant called For You. He picks up the order and drives straight to Al Ghazala, one of the city’s most populous residential buildings. He knocks on the customer’s door, a student from Al Akhawayn University. With a welcoming look on his face, the customer receives his order and exchanges money with Bahemmou, who then goes right back to his car and checks the app again to take care of more orders.
This is the new face of delivery of Ifrane.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it trickier to go out to order food. One can run the risk of being contaminated with coronavirus each time they go out. This led authorities to impose and tighten movement restrictions that include curfews on a worldwide scale. Morocco is no different, and residents of this small Middle Atlas city have had to adjust to the new curfews that made it increasingly difficult to order food or pick up deliveries.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, variants of the coronavirus, such as B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, which appear to be far more contagious, lethal and less responsive to vaccines, were identified in the United States and in Brazil. Moreover, on March 25, 2021, a BBC article announces the appearance of a new “double mutant” variant that has been detected from samples in India. These emerging variants could make the issue of crowded places during the pandemic a very dangerous one.
In an article in Eater, Dr. Anne Liu, an infectious disease physician at Stanford Health Care, states that the appearance of these new variants increased the risk associated with dining in a restaurant, and the guidelines for social distancing may not be able to prevent the proliferation of coronavirus, and more specifically these new variants.
According to a 2020 survey on indoor vs. outdoor COVID-19 transmission rates, out of 20,000 cases, only 461 cases were associated with transmission in completely outdoor environments. That number constitutes only 6 percent of all the cases that were linked to outdoor events. The rest of the cases were tied to indoor events such as indoor restaurant dining. This raises many concerns especially for cold places like Ifrane where people are more likely to dine indoors, or during fall and winter in general. This is specifically why coronavirus transmission can substantially increase.
Thankfully for Ifrane residents, on February 9, 2021, Bahemmou and his partner Nassim Elabed, started Ifrane Delivery. Instead of having to call a taxi driver, Ifrane businesses send your order to your doorstep with just a few clicks.
Taking COVID-19 restrictions into account, it is clear that this new service came in at the right time. How did this service start?
Bahemmou began this journey as a waiter at For You, delivering food on a small motorbike. He then started working for a few other food places and kept working hard until he managed to upgrade to his own delivery car.
One day, he had the brilliant idea of working with his partner on an application through which local residents can make their orders.
“Having the new COVID-19 restrictions in mind, and the fact that Al Akhawayn students can only leave campus two hours per day, we decided to go through with the idea to provide this service”, he explained.
They managed to work with a variety of food places that include Foodie, For You and Lyn. Clients can also make orders from the marché, a fresh produce market, and Tarik, a popular haanout or convenience shop where people can purchase drinks, snacks, cigarettes, etc.
Within a few weeks, it became popular among the residents and students of Al Akhawayn University.
Some workers at Foodie, one of Ifrane’s most popular fast-food places, claimed that they faced conflicts with taxi drivers in the past.
“Taxi drivers were abnormally slow. Clients would often complain about the food being cold because of how late it came in.” said Oussama Bogho, 25, another Ifrane resident who takes care of the orders at Foodie. “It was a big disadvantage to us because a good portion of our clients used to avoid having their food delivered.”
“None of us liked how taxi drivers used to be in charge of a matter like this. Our clients would often call to complain about their orders being forgotten, which wasn’t our fault. It was nothing that was in our control.”, explained Abdelilah, 29, who did not want to disclose his last name, owner of Tarik haanout.
“Concerning the new delivery service, it worked out really well for us,” added Bogho. “We give all the orders to the delivery guy, who goes straight to the people’s houses to get it delivered. People stopped complaining ever since, which released a lot of pressure on the workers here, and possibly everywhere else for that matter.”
On the other hand, taxi drivers do not seem to be pleased about these new ways of delivery.
Omar, 32, who did not want to reveal his last name, has been a taxi driver for seven years. “I used to deliver food to Ifrane people and mainly Al Akhawayn students all the time. I worked hard to raise my income and had their food delivered in no time. It is very sad to us people who work in this field that a big part of our income is being taking away from us. Our reputation was tarnished by these new delivery people claiming that all taxi drivers were slow and did not do their job right.”
Unfortunately for these taxi drivers, some AUI students seem to prefer Ifrane Delivery service. According to Nisrine Hadhoudi, 20, a business student at AUI, it is much faster than the old one and is able to provide more options.
“[The app] allows clients to customize their order, which makes it much more effective, and it is also more affordable. This system made sure their clients got to pay less than they did before, which allowed for an easier lifestyle,” she said.
Another business student at the university, Asmae Abbou, 19, indicated that this service had a huge impact on people’s lives since COVID-19 lockdowns hit, claiming that she would not have lived well without it. At times, the application would stop working for her, which she qualified as a huge downside because she, alongside other students, became highly dependent on the service.
Although a big part of taxi drivers’ income had to be sacrificed, the rise of a service of the sort has been completely efficient. Looking at the success of this application among Ifrane’s people, it is clear that this could be the perfect service for all Moroccan citizens to get through these tough pandemic times.
“I came to the realization that I got too accustomed to this lifestyle and ways of delivery to the point that I might continue living the exact same way after COVID.” said Abbou.