THE “BUBBLE” of NCR+ (consisting of the National Capital Region and the its surrounding provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) made news earlier this year due to its varying quarantine status throughout the pandemic. The same bubble makes news again as Grab Philippines expands its services throughout the same area: adding cities and towns in Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna to its list of serviced areas for GrabFood food delivery.

According to a statement from Grab, the following cities and municipalities will now be serviced by GrabFood: Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue, Malolos, Baliuag, San Ildefonso, San Miguel, and Pulilan in Bulacan; Tagaytay, Maragondon, Amadeo, and Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in Cavite; and San Pablo, Santa Cruz, Santa Maria, Sinoloan, Mabitac, Famy, Pakil, Pangil, Paete, and Magdalena in Laguna.

“This comes after regular feedback from residents in these areas, requesting for Grab to offer its services so that they too can have access to everyday value, safe and hygienic food delivery service, as well as livelihood opportunities,” read the statement. New GrabFood users can enjoy free delivery and P20 off when they use the promo code TRYGRABFOOD.

Grab Philippines will continue to implement GrabProtect in those new cities and municipalities. GrabProtect is a suite of tools, policies, and procedures aimed to ensure the safety and hygiene standards across the Grab platform. As part of GrabProtect, all food deliveries in Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna will continue to observe a contactless delivery policy for the benefit of both the consumers and delivery-partners. As part of Grab’s ongoing efforts in raising the safety and hygiene standards in the food delivery industry in the Philippines, merchant- and delivery-partners in Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna will also undergo food safety and hygiene training from specialized learning modules co-developed by the Food Safety and Hygiene Academy of the Philippines (FoodSHAP) and Grab Philippines. These modules will include proper food handling, delivery, as well as proper sanitation of delivery vehicles and gears.

Meanwhile, local business owners in those areas will be aided by Grab programs to help their business go digital. These include Grab Online Shop and Campaign packages, as well as programs like Grab’s Annual Merchant Conference, and Grab Merchant Academy. Grab Online Shop is an e-commerce solution for food and beverage businesses. With these, merchants can set their preferred delivery radius, maximum delivery fees, and minimum order amount, and have the choice of delivering orders using their own fleet or Grab’s delivery fleet; along with other benefits such as access to analytics and marketing tools.

Marketing programs within the Grab Campaign package include Grab-curated marketing packages with combined advertising and promotional tools. Grab will also have an upcoming financial literacy program in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). According to another statement from last month, “Grab and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) are collaborating to improve financial literacy among small businesses. Grab’s merchant-partners will have access to IFC’s world-class training materials for free via GrabAcademy on the GrabMerchant app,” it said.

“We want to serve and empower even more of our fellow Filipinos with this expansion. Through Grab’s digital platform, expertise, and technology, we can help the residents and local business owners of Bulacan, Cavite, and Laguna to unlock new earning opportunities, boost economic activities within the cities and thereby create a positive impact on their communities,” Grab Philippines Head of Deliveries Anton Bautista said in a statement.

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