ADDIS ABABA — Inside a tall building in Adama, in Ethiopia's Oromia region, Kalkidan Daniel fields calls from customers one after another, serving them their favorite meals from hotels and restaurants across the city.

Daniel works for Pick Delivery, the first online food delivery service provider in Adama, about 100 kilometers east of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

"We faced a very difficult time when we launched the business two years ago. Local residents lacked awareness of the online food delivery service in the city," said Daniel, who heads the company's customer care service.

The number of food delivery service users in the city has since surged as many realize how easy it is to get their favorite dishes through Pick Delivery.

Founded in July 2022, Pick Delivery operates as an intermediary between restaurants and customers and fills orders placed on its service app or through its call center.

The meals are delivered by backpack bikers.

"The business is going well and becoming more and more popular," Daniel said. "We are witnessing an increasing number of orders every day via app and phone calls."

Yisak Sisay, co-founder and chief operating manager of Pick Delivery, said the firm learned experience from a China-invested food delivery company in Addis Ababa.

Food delivery service is relatively new in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation with a population of about 120 million. A small number of residents in Addis Ababa and Adama are familiar with the service, leaving the market largely untapped across the East African nation.

Sisay said Pick Delivery had to launch extensive promotional campaigns after its debut as it was a new experience for city residents.

"In a city like Adama where online food delivery services were unknown, it was difficult to launch the business due to the absence of the necessary technology, infrastructure and know-how about the business," he recalled.

"At the beginning, we were receiving five orders a day. These days, however, we receive and serve up to 80 customers a day. That is really a big leap," said Sisay, noting that the company now gets orders from all corners of the city.

Pick Delivery also delivers products from traders, who sell their products online, to potential buyers across Adama.

He said foodstuffs are delivered to customers in less than 45 minutes. "Any loss will be upon us in case customers shift locations or fail to receive calls from backpack bikers."

He added that online food delivery services require a friendly and easy platform to enable customers to place orders quickly and a strong partnership between the food delivery company on one side and restaurants on the other.

Amanuel Demissie is one of the 25 backpack bikers hired by Pick Delivery to pick up foods from hotels and restaurants and deliver them to customers after receiving calls or text messages from the company.

"I used to ride a bicycle just for recreation and move from one place to another. I had never imagined that I would have got a job with it," said Demissie.

Bilisuma Teshome, one of the customers of Pick Delivery, said food delivery services provide a range of benefits to customers, including saving time and energy.

"I order my favorite food online or by making calls to the company. I really enjoy their swift delivery service," she said.

Teshome, a manager of an advertising and printing company, said she gets her favorite food in less than 25 minutes after she makes an order, unless the restaurant from which the meal comes is located far away from her office.

Africa's food delivery business, just like the entire e-commerce industry, has yet to fully develop, due to such factors as inadequate internet connectivity, payment modalities and logistics barriers.

According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa are the only African countries where the share of online shoppers exceeds 8 percent of their respective population. In most other African countries, the ratio is below 5 percent.

Xinhua