Matilda Mattew, founder of Meals in Minutes, recently shared a distressing experience with Sunday deliveries that left her business out of pocket. A customer placed an order at 7:30 pm, and the food was ready 25 minutes later. However, things took a turn for the worse when Mattew’s regular riders were unavailable, and she had to book a bolt ride.
In a social media post, the mobile food vendor, explained that the first rider she booked kept canceling, but she finally got one who claimed to be on his way. After waiting for 15 minutes, she called him, and he said he was still coming, but then stopped taking her calls. Mattew was forced to cancel and rebook, finally getting a rider who arrived promptly after 7 minutes.
The rider was instructed to deliver the order to the customer, but disaster struck when his bike broke down, and he couldn’t reach the customer, who had stopped taking his calls. “I tried calling the customer, but he didn’t answer,” Mattew said. The rider eventually called at 10:15 pm to report the failed delivery.
Mattew instructed him to return the order, but not before waiting until 11 pm in case the customer changed his mind – unfortunately, the customer had blocked the rider’s number. The incident resulted in a loss of N24,500 for Mattew’s business. Despite the setback, Mattew handled the situation calmly and professionally.
“I handled the situation calmly and professionally, without shouting at the rider or sending aggressive messages to the customer knowing fully well that if he had made payment he will definitely take his calls,” she explained. The experience taught Mattew a valuable lesson: collect payment before sending out deliveries.
“I’ll make sure to collect payment before dispatching orders no matter what,” she vowed. Mattew’s fear of employing riders due to the unknown adds another layer of complexity to managing her growing business.
Meals in Minutes offers portioned and prepped vacuum-packed healthy meal portions, allowing customers to mix and match delicious proteins, bases, and sides, with delivery options available.