Year of the fast food: delivery workers are having a good year

by Ardelle Costuna

(Kristone Bayoneta/ Flickr/ https://flic.kr/p/3JN8BF)

 

“Mas gusto ko sa Pilipinas, sila (the foreign investors) na lang pumunta dito.”

With the growing trend of Filipinos going overseas to work for dollars and euros (which largely contributes to a portion of the economy), and despite the sorry state of fast food workers in other parts of the world, delivery boy Michael Ermino prefers to stay here in the country, confident that the economy will soon be in full bloom.

In his four years of working with Mang Inasal, a subsidiary of Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC), he said that business indeed picked up starting January this year, making 2014 his busiest year so far.

 

You might also want to read: What it’s like to work in fast food

 

“Malakas kami ngayon. Naghahanap pa kami ng additional delivery boy,” he told the Manila Bulletin.

The fast food is the largest and fastest-growing food service industry in the country, with JFC dominating the pack. What was once an ice cream and burger shop tucked in the hustling and bustling Cubao, Quezon City in the 80′s is now the largest fast food chain in the country and in Asia.

Despite the damages wrought about by Typhoon Yolanda last year, groups like the International Monetary Fund and Economist Intelligent Unit are ensuring that the Philippine economy is on the right track.

And with the nearing integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Ermino feels that he and other fast food workers are having the time of their lives.

“Tingin ko makakadala yan ng trabaho. Kung makikita niyo, napakadami na ng foreign fast food. Dadami pa yan sa industriya namin,” he noted.