SINGAPORE: Former badminton world champion Loh Kean Yew was recently in Odense, Denmark, for a competition, but, like many overseas, he was thinking of a homegrown dish.
He was dreaming of chicken rice, widely considered to be one of Singapore’s most beloved dishes, to be specific.
On Instagram on Oct 17, Loh posted several photos of himself on a walk with his caption: “Rare chance to explore a different side of Odense, and here I am thinking about chicken rice 🫠”
Shortly afterwards, the verified account of Grab Singapore responded to the post, saying “We deliver chicken rice to you when you’re back,” along with a thumbs-up emoji.
The shuttler, however, hit back, responding by saying he’s a Grab unlimited subscriber, and then asked if he could get the delicious dish delivered to Denmark.
Grab responded by writing “Ok,” served with a side of side-eye.
Loh returned the side-eye, and the online convo ended there.
But it seems that the story was not done. On Monday morning, Grab Singapore posted a video on TikTok and Instagram of a young woman in a green Grab jacket boarding a plane with an order of chicken rice, landing at the airport in Copenhagen, and then making her way to Loh’s hotel room door.
Loh, the 2021 Badminton World Champion, became Grab Singapore’s first brand ambassador in 2022.
@grabsingapore @Loh Kean Yew : thinking of chicken rice us: ok got it
“You really come?” A surprised Loh is heard saying. “I thought you all joking eh. Oh my God, thank you.”
The company captioned the video with, “@lohkeanyew : thinking of chicken rice. Us: Ok got it.”
Loh commented on the video, saying that he “still can’t believe it.”
And when a commenter joked that the fee for delivering chicken rice to Denmark would be around S$2,000, Grab wrote that it was actually free for their “favorite badminton player.”
Some Instagram users, however, wondered how fresh the meal would be, given the transit time from Singapore to Denmark, with one saying it would not be deemed safe for consumption by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
Others appealed for the company to do a better job back home. A comment that received a lot of likes was from an IG user who asked Grab to focus on ensuring basic delivery standards in Singapore.
She explained that she had ordered food that day but it wasn’t delivered. And when she filed a case, she was asked to submit a picture as proof.
“How is a customer supposed to prove a missing delivery with a photo—of an empty doorstep? This seems like an unreasonable request. Could you please assist in resolving this issue?”
Grab responded to her comment, and asked her to send her phone number, e-mail address, and the Booking ID of the delivery.
Two days after this, however, the commenter wrote that she had yet to get a response.
Another appealed for the company to “do something to your app instead of working on your social media”, explaining that she had two ongoing cases over the past week and had got no replies. /TISG