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Sleepless before dawn: Delivery services up, running for 'sahur'
At around 2 a.m. on Sunday, as half the city was fast asleep, dozens of Go-Jek and Grab drivers were already lining up outside a popular fast-food restaurant in Palmerah, West Jakarta.
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Racing the clock: An app-based ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver leaves a fast food restaurant to deliver a sahur (predawn meal) food order on Sunday. App-based ojek drivers must work fast to ensure the food is delivered before imsak (time when fasting starts). (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
H
aving to wake up hours before the sun rises is hard enough for most people, and it is even harder when they also have to prepare sahur (predawn meal) during the fasting month of Ramadan.
But thanks to app-based delivery services from companies such as Go-Jek and Grab, more and more people are choosing to have their predawn meals brought to their doorsteps — cooked and ready to enjoy.
At around 2 a.m. on Sunday, as half the city was fast asleep, dozens of Go-Jek and Grab drivers were already lining up outside a popular fast-food restaurant in Palmerah, West Jakarta.
They were there to place their customers’ orders, and to keep themselves awake at such an early hour, they joked around and chatted among each other.
As soon as their order was ready, they rushed to their motorcycle to deliver the meal before the sun rose.
Among them was 22-year-old Ifan. By 3 a.m., he had completed two orders from the same restaurant and rushed to deliver them.
“I could complete one order in 20 minutes to one and a half hour, depending on the line [at the restaurant]. I always make sure to inform my customer [on the estimated waiting time] so that they can decide whether to continue the order or cancel it,” he said.
