Craving for home-cooked, tasty food but feeling too lazy or being too busy to actually cook is something utterly common!
Fortunately, there are apps that can solve this problem. I have tried and used one of them several times, Bilforon (meaning literally: In the oven). Besides combining home-cooked meals with a digitalized ordering system and (home) delivery, this app is a pure Jordanian product, generating activity and income for people in Jordan.
It is based on a pool of cooks (similar to the drivers’ pool specific to apps such as Careem or Uber), both male and female (great point for gender equality here!), offering their products on a daily basis.
After a short registration process once you downloaded the app – where you have to enter basic personal information and delivery address(es) -, you reach the homepage where you are giving four choices: Catering; Dish of the Day; Farmers Market; Weekly Subscription. A short description of each of these options can help you find what you are looking for, whether it is a bigger order for catering on the next day, an immediate meal, organic and fresh products once a week, or a whole week of new dishes every day. My favorite feature and the one I use most is the common delivery option, “Dish of the Day”, where you can order daily between 11am and 8pm. It allows you to have fresh meals delivered to your house, working place, or any other location of your choice, within a maximum of 1 hour.
Once you chose the option you prefer, you see the “profiles” of the available cooks, their rating and number of reviews and their specialties summed up in keywords. All this comes along a friendly picture, which makes it all less anonymous.
You can click on every profile and get further details on their products, organized in several categories, and prices (excluding additional delivery fees). And be sure that the portions announced are very generous Jordanian style! You can add every meal or item of your choice to your basket and modify it anytime during the process of ordering – just like shopping online!
Once finished, you just have to confirm your order and the delivery address. You will receive a confirmation message to the number you’ve entered when subscribing, with delivery details according to the option you chose.
According to my experience with the app, the delivery times and details announced are very accurate and the customer support is very reliable. In case of delayed delivery, you will be informed right away and get a phone call to apologize for any inconvenience. You can also trust the freshness and quality of the products, all cooks being subjected to regular hygiene checks.
Not to forget that this app – and the similar ones – serve a noble and uttermost important cause, providing Jordanians as well as refugees (mainly Syrians) with a job opportunity, generating income for them and their families, allowing them to work from home. The app, currently employing around 30 cooks, some of them refugees, without legal work permits, for whom the team is providing assistance to receive these permits.
Of course, the app is not perfect and it has some shortcomings in my eyes, but most of them are justified by the concept of the app itself and are therefore acceptable. One of them is the fact that delivery fees apply to each cook: if you want to order from various cooks, delivery fees apply for each cook individually. It all sums up quite quickly then!
Also, vegetarian – let alone vegan – options are fairly rare compared to the variety of cooks and meals; but again, the products proposed to correspond mainly to the local specialties, which are often meaty!
Long story short – I can only recommend to try this free application and see for yourself!
Written by Fiona Huebers
For more information and links to the app, see below:
Bilforon Website (English / Arabic)
Bilforon on Facebook
Bilforon on Instagram
Bilforon on App Store
Bilforon on Google Play
Article on home-cooked food apps in Jordan – published by Tala El Issa, 13/10/2016
