Grocery delivery service honestbee sent out an official notice to its customers last April 19 that it will temporarily stop its operation in the Philippines as reported by Yugatech.

In an email excerpt below, the company said that it experiences a funding issue with the headquarters.

“At honestbee Philippines, we value the relationship we have built with you. As we work with our HeadQuarters towards bringing the total business to a healthy and sustainable level, we, unfortunately, need to temporarily pause our local operations until further notice.
Thank you for understanding, and we apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused…”

The email was also followed by a message on its app showing: “No other details of the closure are available as of the moment.”

In January, the Singapore online grocery and food delivery service announced that they will be temporarily pausing partnership with FairPrice. While honestbee did not specify the time period of the break with the supermarket company, according to Vulcan Post, the shopper bee, honestbee’s concierge shopper said that it will be a permanent arrangement.

Dongshen News reported that honestbee allegedly owes money to its partner vendors in Taiwan and has been delaying payments, while another said that it has not received any payment from honestbee since January.

Honestbee Taiwan emphasized that they are not having money problems and that they are streamlining payment processes.

According to posts in Tech In Asia and Vulcan Post, there has been reports of layoffs in the regional offices. In Thailand, 30 staffs were let go, while more than five people were terminated in Indonesia following the resignation of several key executives, including co-founder Isaac Tay, Malaysia country managing director Pulkit Manchanda, and Singapore managing director Chris Urban.

However, in the Philippines all workforce remain intact. Honestbee expanded in the Philippines in the first quarter of 2018.

Customers in the Philippines reportedly reached out to honestbee’s social media pages questioning their pending orders with the firm. On its Facebook page, honestbee Philippines has been reassuring frantic customers that it will “bee (be) right back”, hinting that it will be serving customers again “in no time.

With regards to pending orders and deliveries, honestbee has since responded that all credit and debit card payments will be refunded.

Honestbee notice in their app.

Source e27.co
Images are from the internet