Hunger games: Competition in quick food delivery heats up

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A war is brewing in online delivery as fast food takes on a new twist in India. After shaking up the retail market for online deliveries with their quick commerce services, Zomato’s Blinkit and Swiggy recently launched standalone apps to deliver meals, snacks and beverages in 15-20 minutes.

Their quick commerce rival Zepto was the first off the mark among the three, starting a quick food delivery service called Zepto Cafe in2022and launching a standalone app for its food business in December last year. In November, Bengaluru-based quick food delivery startup Swish raised $2 million from venture capital firm Accel and other investors. Swish was founded in August 2024.

The rush into online fast-food deliveries is expected to increase competition in the food ordering space, prompting regular food service companies to prepare items for shorter delivery timelines. “Overall, quick food deliveries will elevate overall food delivery growth rates. However, the swift off-take in such orders may adversely impact beverages (and) dessert sales of large quick service (restaurant) chains that operate at 30-40-minute delivery cycles," said Karan Taurani, an analyst at Elara Securities.

To be sure, some large restaurant chains have been trying to deliver food faster. In 2022, pizza chain Domino’s announced plans to roll out a 20-minute delivery service in select cities, and subsequently scaled it up to other markets. Domino’s was a global pioneer, introducing its 30-minute delivery service in the early 1980s, which it brought to India as well.