What Makes Takeaway Delivery Popular?

At a time, when food delivery business is getting hotter day by day, two major players, Zomato and Swiggy are continuously experimenting with something new, making everyone to look at them and grab the opportunity.

Few days back, a customer at Zomato, Param Sharma shared a screenshot of a “Flash Sale” pop-up on his app. Here’s how it works: if someone cancels their order, it goes up for grabs in a flash sale—so you can swoop in and claim a freshly prepared, sealed meal at half the price! In Param’s case, that meant a meal originally priced at Rs. 260 was offered at just Rs. 130, with delivery promised in only 5 minutes.

And, looking at this as an opportunity and to also contribute the ecosystem by saving the food being wasted, Deepinder Goyal, Founder & CEO, Zomato on Monday announced on Linkedin that they are launching the ‘Food Rescue’ feature on the Zomato app. “We don't encourage order cancellation at Zomato, because it leads to a tremendous amount of food wastage,” shared Goyal in his post by adding that inspite of stringent policies, and a no-refund policy for cancellations, more than 4 lac perfectly good orders get cancelled on Zomato, per month, for various reasons by customers. 

According to him, the top concern for the restaurant industry, and even the customers who cancel these orders, is to somehow save the food from going to waste. 

“Today, we are introducing a new feature (being scaled as we speak) – Food Rescue!,” he added by pointing that the canceled orders will now pop up for nearby customers, who can grab them at an unbeatable price, in their original untampered packaging, and receive them in just minutes.

“The canceled order will pop up on the app for customers within a 3 km radius of the delivery partner carrying the order,” he further pointed.

Food Rescue: An initiative to minimize food wastage

Every month, around 4 lakh perfectly good orders on their way to the customers are canceled on Zomato. It’s a serious challenge and we have been working on possible solutions to reduce this food wastage. Introducing Food Rescue! Canceled orders will now pop up for nearby customers, who can grab them at an unbeatable price, in their original untampered packaging, and receive them in just minutes.

How does it work for our restaurant partners?

We are heartened to see that 99.9% of our restaurant partners want to be a part of this initiative. Here’s how it will work for them:
•    Restaurant partners will continue to receive compensation for the original canceled order, plus a portion of the amount paid by the new customer if the order is claimed.
•    Restaurant partners can see Food Rescue orders in Order history section on the Restaurant Partner app and in their Weekly Payout statement, in the ‘Order Level’ tab
•    If, for any reason, restaurant partners don’t wish to participate, they can instantly opt out via their Restaurant partner app and dashboard.

How does it work for our delivery partners?

Delivery partners will be compensated fully for the entire trip, from the initial pickup to the final drop-off at the new customer’s location.
 

Technology plays an important role in our lives. It has not only changed the taste buds, but also how we have been ordering food at home. From the online delivery numbers in just single digit, today most of the restaurants are depended on 20-25 per cent of the business done online. And, the idea of omni-channel shopping emerged, where each digital touchpoint functions as a stand-alone business. The connective power of social media in various platforms unified the chef population and influencers as they share the restaurant reviews, dining experiences and much more. Here are the key points to note down:

Leveraging the unified commerce platform:

“Unified Commerce is leveraging all channels of revenue means right from e-Commerce, which includes the merchandise sales, to aggregators, which become celebrity sales, walk-in sales, which we have leveraged through application-based, tech-enabled takeaway, application-based process. And other thing to focus on is supply chain because we face the challenge of having small units across the city or country and then it needs to be optimized using technology that the distribution looks more of like an FMCG in the back end than like an F&B considering the space constraints we have in the front end.  So what we have done is we have combined all of these factors together to one particular technology solution at the outlet,” shared Abhijeet Anand, Founder & CEO, abCoffee that started from an online space, has now entered by opening its kiosk cafes.

Increasing Efficiency

“At Burgrill, we have understood that we have to coexist with the third party aggregators for that we have Zomato and Swiggy. Having a better flow in the kitchen, that any person who is actually working is not moving anything other than two to three feet and that he is not crushing into each other while they are working together. And then we are also doing automated machineries. We need to create a lot of checkpoints. There were a lot of missing items with the deliveries. We have created stickers which have QR codes wherein one can scan those QR codes and it will automatically mark the Mark FoodReady, which is a compliance of Zomato and Swiggy. The customer service is all about providing consistent food. That's the only thing that we do to make sure that our customers go happy. We have printing labels so that the QR code tells us that this is done or not,” added Shreh Madan, Co-Founder, CMO, Burgrill that has become one of the favourite burger chain in the Delhi-NCR region.

Focusing on Consistency by using Technology

“In the kitchen, we work on a lot of machinery. To automate the processes in the kitchen, we have certain companies that we work with so that we can increase the quality of the product but also reduce the cooking time so that the same chef has to work for a lesser amount of time on the range but he's able to give out the same quality, he's able to give out the same consistency every day. Technology only goes so far in terms of creating consistency. It can create efficiency but it can never improve the taste or the consistency of the product. It can fasten the process. And it is a very thin line between having a consistent product and being extremely efficient,” pointed Mohit Dang, Co-Founder, CurryNama by Seven Seas.

The Online to Offline Transition

Highlighting his views on seamless transitions, Amit Sarda, Chief Operating Officer, Prologic First said, “Implementing an omni-channel strategy, starting from ordering the food till we get the food from mobile to website to the point of sale system that are installed in the restaurants. The promotions that you see online are different than the promotions which are given to the guests when they come in for dine-in restaurants. There has to be some parity around there and if we can connect all the systems together and if we can have a price parity and can get same kind of offers for dine-in it can definitely connect the systems together and restaurants can benefit having guests over to their restaurants instead of ordering food online. There is a personalization of guest data that is available from online channels.”

Focusing on the restaurant point of view from a coffee on the go, Abhijeet added, “The product has to be constant. When a consumer first walks into our store the first thing that we promise to them is great coffee, quality, consistent and then fast service because there is a grab and go coffee chain.” 

In recent times, there has been a significant rise in the popularity of veganism and gluten-free diets. For ethical, environmental, or health-related reasons, some choose to adopt veganism, Keto or Gluten-free needs which involve avoiding all animal products. 

But even with the increasing demand, grocery shopping can still be challenging for people on vegan, keto or gluten-free diets. Specialty products availability might be restricted, and searching for suitable options in the typical grocery stores can be a time-consuming and tedious task. Here's where food delivery services come into play, providing a convenient option for people following particular diets.

Healthy foods like gluten-free diets or vegan food items are delivered by the food delivery services is making it convenient for the consumers to consume during their busy lives.  Food delivery services like Zomato, UberEats, Swiggy, Zoop, Rebel Foods and many others have healthy food options getting delivered at the customer’s doorstep.

Health On-the-Go

“Zoop simplifies online food ordering in train with easy access across various platforms, including its official website, WhatsApp, Google Chatbot, and Instagram, available in Hindi, English. Passengers can choose from a diverse menu, including Keto, Gluten-free Foods, Vegan, Italian, Chinese, North and South Indian cuisines and all the popular snacks. For those with special dietary needs, Zoop also offers Jain food and festive treats ensuring everyone can enjoy their favourite and even festive foods on train,” shared an official spokesperson at Zoop.

Offering Balanced Diets

“As more people prioritize their health and well-being, there's a noticeable shift towards mindful eating. Today’s consumers are not just seeking convenience—they're demanding nutritious options that align with their values and lifestyles, whether that’s vegan, keto, or gluten-free. According to Swiggy and Bain & Co’s report on ‘How India Eats,’ released in July 2024, India is expected to have 176 million health-focused consumers by 2026. In fact, 40% of consumers prefer to eat out at restaurants with healthy options, and 88% of active internet users in urban India manage their health through food choices,” shared a spokesperson at Swiggy.

He pointed that at Swiggy, they recognize this growing awareness and are committed to offering choices that are both diverse and nutritious. “Over the past year, Swiggy Guilt-free saw a significant 146% rise in vegan orders, with 70% of those orders being for vegan and guilt-free ice cream indicating the country’s tilting preference to continue indulging in their favourite dishes mindfully,” he added.

“Crafting these dishes goes beyond simply substituting ingredients; it’s about innovating recipes to provide the same, if not enhanced, flavours. Our vegan options, for example, are packed with protein and essential nutrients, while our keto and gluten-free meals are carefully balanced to meet nutritional needs without sacrificing taste. With advancements in technology and ingredient sourcing, we can offer more personalised, nutritious meals that align with individual health goals,” said Chef Vijay Pandey, Corporate Chef, Rebel Foods.

With the rising demand in healthy eating in India, it is quite evident that healthy eating in the busy lives will rise up in the coming years making it more popular among the consumers and it will increase in the food delivery market as well.

The convenience of online meal delivery is attracting more and more customers, which has led to an accelerated rise in the cloud kitchen business in recent years. Since there are no dine-in customers, food in a cloud kitchen is exclusively made in a commercial kitchen for takeout or delivery. Cloud kitchens enable restaurant owners to swiftly launch a digital brand or grow an already-existing company. Innovative developments such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are revolutionizing the cloud kitchens. According to reports, the online food delivery market in India is expected to reach US$43.78 billion in revenue by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.98%. This growth will culminate in a projected market volume of US$91.88 billion by 2029. The best practices for guaranteeing food safety include laying the groundwork, adhering to regulations, conducting routine audits and inspections, certifying staff, maintaining hygienic food handling practices, FIFO, cleaning protocols, and using technology.

Sustainability is likely to receive increasing attention from the cloud kitchen sector as customers grow more ecologically aware. This can entail buying foods from sustainable and local sources, utilizing eco-friendly packaging materials, and streamlining culinary processes to cut down on food waste.

How AI is Enhancing Safety

Safety remains of utmost importance in the cloud kitchen industry, especially in the wake of the pandemic, which has underscored the importance of stringent hygiene protocols. “AI and IoT devices play a crucial role in monitoring kitchen conditions, ensuring compliance with health standards, and minimizing the risk of contamination,” said Chef Mohammed Anas, Co-founder, Beyondburg Inc. who elaborated that where the demand for food delivery is high, such technologies are essential for consumer trust and maintaining high safety standards.

Food safety is a critical aspect of cloud kitchens. “Following the strict hygiene standards and conducting regular audits ensures that the end products meet the highest safety standards. Extensive training of the staff and using fresh, quality ingredients are essential as well and with that maintaining transparency in operations and adhering to regulatory guidelines is important to build consumer trust,” added Himanshu Chawla, Co-Founder, Bakingo by pointing that in any form of food business, maintaining food safety is non-negotiable and fundamental to delivering a reliable and satisfying customer experience. 

"To ensure consumer trust and regulatory compliance. Maintaining hygiene, using quality ingredients, and adhering to food safety standards help prevent foodborne illnesses and protect the brand’s reputation. The key safety concerns includes hygiene practices and ingredient quality," said Richa Sanghvi, Owner, All things Jain who highlighted that AI can help in monitoring kitchen conditions, tracking ingredient and ensuring compliance.

Cloud kitchens in India are addressing food safety concerns through strict hygiene protocols, prevention of cross-contamination, and the use of advanced technology. Varun Madan, CEO & Founder, Salad Days shared, “Measures such as frequent handwashing, the use of protective gear, and color-coded utensils ensure a safe dining experience. Additionally, cloud kitchens monitor food temperatures and implement the FIFO method to reduce spoilage, while following thorough cleaning schedules and complying with food safety regulations, including obtaining FSSAI licenses.”

How AI is Increasing Efficiency, Profitability 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the cloud kitchen industry, optimizing operations from inventory management to customer service. In tech-centric cities like Bangalore, AI-powered analytics predict customer preferences, streamline delivery routes, and minimize food waste, thereby enhancing efficiency and profitability. “Delivery platforms in India, fully leveraging technology, offer real-time insights into order updates, delivery times, customer feedback, and quality metrics, making AI indispensable for modern cloud kitchens,” added Anas.

AI is transforming the future in every industry including the cloud kitchens, bringing efficiency, personalization and innovation. “Various processes can be optimized through AI like inventory management, reducing food wastage and streamlined deliveries. It can help enhance order accuracy and speed through predictive analytics and automated workflows. Individual preferences and dietary needs can be catered by AI-powered data insights for personalized customer experiences. Additionally, AI-driven systems are deployed to monitor and control the temperature and humidity during the logistics as well as storage, which help to maintain the quality of the food. This not only improves the quality and safety of food but also contributes to sustainability by reducing waste,” commented Chawla.
 

Bengaluru as a city has given many firsts to the Indian dining and delivery scenes. From being the first city to accept the global flavours to becoming the largest nightlife and brewery hub, it was also the first cosmopolitan city to accept the delivery and cloud-kitchen model in the country. From brands like Empire that is running the business from last six decades starting the delivery model to Freshmenu becoming one of the first brand to experiment with cloud kitchen model, we have seen and witnessed many firsts in the city. Now, that we see brands and restaurants are looking at giving an omni-channel experience to their customers by being available on both the platforms and models, we can surely say that going forward ‘phygitisation’ will surely be the keyword in restaurant and dining space. 

Recently, Restaurant India hosted its Bengaluru Edition of the Restaurant India Conference Awards on 1st May at Sheraton Bengaluru, where it discussed and talked about being omni-channel. Here are key highlights from the session:

Focusing on Consistency: “Today, for any restaurant business, the biggest challenge is handling people, labour. And we see technology already replacing humans at countries like Korea, Singapore and others. Though in India, the labour cost is not as high as other countries but the consistency is a challenge as you expand. So, consistency has to be taken care of and that was the prime objective on how do we take care of this by using technology,” shared Mahesh Reddy, CEO, GOPIZZA India that invested a lot in the backend technology to focus on consistency, standardisation of the product. Today, the brand has 50 outlets and are looking at 100 outlets by this year end.

Automation is Important: “We are helping our partners For any biz, if you have acceptable product, price and profit and that’s when we say it’s a sustainable, profitable model. The most important thing we follow is the collaboration. We are not directly involved with customers but QSR partners and understanding what consumer is asking for,” pointed Sumit Nair, GM, IFFCO Group that is focusing a lot on automation by technology and embibing it in becoming a great product company. The brand has also minimised human intervention by using automation. 

Relying on Data: “Some of the things that we as a company do is to enhance the online ordering experience for the customers and data has allowed us to do way better in terms of managing consumer timelines, restaurant cancellations, menu availability, forecasting orders and what should you be prepared of because you have a pattern of orders and acceptations and I think the use of data in combination with learning over the years has helped us optimise the online customer experience,” mentioned Rashmi Daga, Founder, Freshmenu. 

Accessibility is the Key:  Empire is a brand that is there in the business for almost six decades now. “We always want to be recalled and we serve a very neutral rather a habitual cuisine. So, we have a certain key factors that Empire is always accessible to its customer,” shared CEO, Shakir Haq of NKP Empire Ventures as it was as early as in 2007 that they introduced the home delivery at that time, having their own bikes, riders.  “We went investing in right ways in technology, various systems, and processes. So, today omni-channel is the strategy for the older brands,” he added as they have now entered into the cloud kitchen segment with their brand Easybites by Empire. 

Collaborating for Growth: “Our aim is product innovation and innovation by application. We are collaborating with restaurant chefs to create unique recipes and consistency in the products. Our focus is always to work closely with restaurant partners to create standardisation and consistency in the product,” added Jaineet Kalra, Key Account Manager- South, Nestle Professional.

Innovation is Constant: “At Sheraton, innovation is constant for us. Health comes in picture first of all, giving the variety is the other important thing as we have eight FnB outlets and we also accept every customer and believe in creating experience,” concluded Mahesh Padala, Culinary Leader &  Director of Operations, Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway.
 

Train travel in India has come a long way, especially with the introduction of the IRCTC ecatering policy back in 2014, offering much-needed food on train services. Previously, despite the popularity of train travel, especially for long journeys, passengers faced challenges in obtaining fresh and hot meals. 

Homemade food was often the only alternative, posing issues such as food spoilage and health concerns. Alternatively, pantry and station foods were limited and could be unhealthy. However, IRCTC ecatering partners have revolutionized the train travel experience, providing passengers with delicious, fresh, and safe meal options, thereby eliminating the food-related hassles and enhancing overall train journey satisfaction.

IRCTC's catering partners support Indian Railways' goal of offering passengers diverse food options. Adhering to ecatering guidelines ensures safe, hygienic food with FSSAI certification. Online food order in train during journeys has become convenient, enhancing the travel experience. Alongside existing players like Zoop, which is serving passengers with hot and fresh meals, popular companies like Zomato and Swiggy have also now entered the market, expanding from home and office deliveries to catering to train passengers' needs.

Last year, Zomato, a prominent player in FoodTech, initiated a partnership with IRCTC to offer pre-ordered meal delivery services at five key railway stations in cities, including New Delhi, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Varanasi. Similarly, Swiggy entered into a collaboration with IRCTC, targeting passengers traveling through stations in Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada. With India boasting the fourth largest railway network globally, serving over 24 million passengers daily, the need for diverse onboard food services is evident. Both Zomato and Swiggy are taking initial steps, with Zomato partnering with over 500 restaurants, and Swiggy training its support agents extensively. Both aim to enhance passengers' dining experiences during travel and allow order food in train through their platforms.

While Zomato and Swiggy are poised for growth, Zoop, IRCTC's trusted partner since 2016, has expanded to over 195 train stations in India. Collaborating with 2500 restaurants and elevating train food order, Zoop aims to ease food hassles for train passengers. Offering a variety of cuisines including North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Italian, and Jain options, as well as catering to special dietary needs for occasions like Eid or religious festivals such as Janmashtami or Navratri. With easy ordering via PNR/Train number or station name through various platforms like Zoop’s website, app, phone, and social media platforms such as Instagram and Whatsapp, the journey becomes more enjoyable for passengers.

According to Puneet Sharma, Founder of Zoop, "Introducing the IRCTC ecatering policy and the recent partnership with FoodTech giants like Zomato and Swiggy highlights notable strides by Indian Railways towards enhancing passenger comfort and convenience. This enables Indian Railways to accommodate a larger number of passengers to place IRCTC food order, with the new and existing ecatering partners like Zoop. At Zoop, our focus is on elevating journey standards by eliminating food-related hassles, thereby contributing to seamless passenger experience on Indian Railways. This year, our goal is to serve an increased number of passengers and expand our presence to over 250 train stations across India."

With the current surge in online activity, especially with 800 million internet users in India, the demand for train food services is poised to rise in the upcoming years. As the number of trains and passengers continues to increase, there's a clear opportunity for growth for FoodTech players like Swiggy and Zomato, as well as existing partners like Zoop, to continue enhancing the train journey experience by offering convenient online food delivery options and serving favorite meals on trains.

There has been so much talks and discussions happening over last few days comparing food delivery majors Zomato and Swiggy to ONDC, a government backed network that has been around since September 2022. As per reports, ONDC has surpassed the 10,000 daily order mark and that’s when Netizens have started comparing the food delivery prices offered by ONDC, Swiggy, and Zomato and have found ONDC cheaper.

The Broader Picture

“ONDC seems to be a creative proposal on the part of the government wherein this platform enables us to sell our food straight to consumers. This platform has an edge over Swiggy and Zomato because of the following reasons - The CAC that exists in Zomato and Swiggy may not exist at all on a network like ONDC. Restaurants listed on ONDC will have access to the data of the customers ordering through this platform,” shared Vikrant Batra, Co-Founder, Dhansoo Cafe, Gurugram who is also of the view that a clear and full picture would only happen if the shift happens at a larger national scale.

Though, people might find this website cheaper to order at this juncture but if you really start ordering from it regularly you would notice that they are charging a price that is equivalent or even higher in some cases to that of other food aggregators. As per a brokerage firm Motilal Oswal, the delivery on ONDC apps is only free for the first order. In the case of a discounted /free delivery, this cost has to be borne by the restaurant (possibly to increase competitive advantage against incumbent duopoly) and is not sustainable. Also, after the first free delivery, in some cases, delivery charges are higher than Zomato/Swiggy.

“ONDC does have some shortcomings like the restaurants going on ONDC must have their own runners and delivery boys for this task. Also, ONDC does not provide the benefit of comparative analysis of different food joints to take a quick decision. Also there is no info on details like time of delivery, expected wait time etc. So, even though the costs are lower in ONDC but we will see the full impact only when it is launched in a full-fledged way,” added Batra.

Commenting on the same, Debaditya Chaudhury, MD, Chowman, Oudh 1590 & Chapter 2 mentioned, “I think that this new ONDC initiative by the Government will change the entire ball game. Acting as medium for a direct link between the business and consumers, businessmen like us will be much relieved from the high commissions that were being charged so far. Also I think it will be super convenient for both the restaurant and consumer parties in terms of dealing with any food complaint and delivery issue, since the direct link will manifest a quicker response that were otherwise going through a big loop of intermediary chain.”

Entering the Delivery Game: ONDC vs Swiggy/Zomato

The online food delivery market is valued at 2.9bn USD where Zomato and Swiggy, both acquiring local players as part of their expansion drive. Others in the market include delivery service by international QSR chains ike McDonald’s that also seen a 60% boom in its delivery business in last 2-3 years, followed by KFC, Domino’s, Burger King and cloud-kitchen brands like Rebels Foods and Curefoods amongst others.

But there’s no denying that Zomato and Swiggy enjoy a duopoly when it comes to online food delivery business in India getting your favourite food delivered at the comfort of the home, they are also criticised for the “middleman cut”, which further increases the price.

“ONDC is the way forward and a step towards a non-partial system where the consumer and vendor/restaurant both gets the benefit. It is more about convenience and transparency. Today’s consumer is far more evolved and aware as are the restaurants. Profit margins are not what they used to be pre-pandemic hence the need to work with a more transparent system and rework dynamics with aggregators where commissions take over,” pointed Vishal Anand, Founder, Moonshine Food Ventures, Gurugram that operates SAGA, NUSH MUSH, CAFE STAYWOKE by adding that ONDC is definitely an initiative that will be beneficial for the guest and the restaurant.

Commenting on the same, Pawan Shahri, Co-Founder, Chrome Hospitality said, “India is on the crux of leading the food and beverage landscape. With the introduction of technology, India's F&B industry is expected to grow and an effort like this from the government is always welcomed. A few years ago, we too had piloted a concept to evade the heavy commission fee charged by third party delivery platforms. This is always favorable from a restaurateur's perspective.”

The experts were also of the opinion that this also opens the opportunity for restaurants to control their own discounts and will not be pushed for any platform discounts. This helps restaurants to build a viable connect with the end customer. For third-party vendors too, this will change the game, they will be pushed to rework their commission models and serve better to both restaurants and customers alike.

“This is a great way to introduce some level of standardization in the overall scheme of things. It is very encouraging to see these efforts by the government, this will definitely boost overall scale in the F&B sector,” added Shahri.

Hence, we can say that though it may become beneficial for restaurants that are running self-owned fleet where they too will be able to make a good use of their fleet to serve customers over ONDC platform. But we really need to keep in mind that other aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato have created a duopoly with a huge investment and good marketing strategy. So, it might take some time and strategies for ONDC to really match up to that.

Ever wondered that your favourite food from 5-star restaurants including the famous ‘Daal Bukhara’ from ITC, the ‘meaty dimsum’ from Taj Hotels famous Golden Dragon to ‘The Japanese Shoyu Rice Bowl’ from the Wabi Sabi restaurant of The Oberoi, 5-star restaurants are all set to droll the customers with their lip smacking  food at the comfort of home.

It all started with the pandemic when these hotels were closed for no business, no customers for almost 3 continuous months. I remember last year in early May when Marriott Hotels extended it ‘Marriott on Wheels’ brand by partnering with Swiggy for delivering its food at home. And, the trend saw many hotel chains entering into the delivery segment.

Also Read: Marriott Launches Its First ever Food Truck – Marriott on Wheels

How fruitful is the delivery model?

“Owing to the prevailing restrictions on dining in and homes becoming the new epicentre,the hospitality industry continues to adapt and reinvent itself to meet the growing demands of consumers’ gourmet dining experiences at home,” shared Manas V. Krishnamoorthy, General Manager at ITC Windsor who believes that customers are looking for an experiential meal experience at home – that starts right from the time the order is placed, to packaging and delivery.

“At ITC Windsor, both these unique culinary experiences have received overwhelming feedback from diners across Bengaluru since launch. We are also seeing a trend in guests gifting the joy of a thoughtfully curated meals to their loved ones, and even hosting virtual parties and celebrations with pre-ordered meals,” he added.

Creating a ‘Hotel-like’ experience at home

Lauded for its usage of eco-friendly bio-degradable materials, the packaging for takeaway menus at these hotel chains are zero single-use plastic, thereby offering a responsible dining experience at the comfort of home.

“At Aloft, a huge emphasis is given to quality control, be it in the form of food, packaging or delivery standards. Marriott’s Commitment to Clean is in full effect and the best hygiene and safety protocols are in place. Our team has been vaccinated and also heavily trained in the new normal. Dining at home only removes the ambience of the outlet from the overall experience. Food quality remains top-notch, the packaging is sustainable and the delivery is seamless, on-time and contactless,” pointed Nitin Kumar, Asst. Food & Beverage Manager, Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park that is part of Marriott Group.

Catering to the needs of its customers Hilton also entered into the world of delivery and has also partnered with Swiggy and Zomato for delivery.

Also, at ITC looking at ‘New Normal’, a lot of thought has been put into the packaging of food – factoring in different contributors such as kind of cuisine, temperature, distance travelled, mode of transport, consumption techniques, etc. While every order has a WeAssure seal confirming that the customer is the first to come in direct contact with it after preparation, the food is packed in plant starched clamshell boxes - finally parcelled in a biodegradable bag with an aqueous coating. In order to preserve the taste and texture of each signature dish, each delivery comes with a heating manual with simple recommendations to best enjoy the type of cuisine ordered.

It’s all about the food

“We have developed one new menu for both dine-in and delivery, keeping in minds the latest trends, tastes and food habits of the city. The menu is predominantly Indian, with a lot of emphasis on the use of local ingredients. Alongside this, we have also added in a touch of Oriental and Continental flavours to cater to the needs of everyone. The menu also comprises a special kids section with a few fan favourites,” said Kumar.

Similarly, Hilton’s select delivery menu across cities features the top 20 signature dishes from the most popular F&B outlets of Hilton Hotels in those cities, at special delivery prices. For packaging, Hilton will be using biodegradable plastic, paper, and cardboard, it announced last year while entering into the delivery market.

The pandemic has, in a way, prompted the F&B industry to reinvent, innovate and deploy creativity to gauge the interest of the new-age consumers.

“ITC Hotels endeavours to continuously deliver culinary excellence through well-researched cuisine concepts to showcase the best of Indian culinary offerings. And reinforcing this belief, the chain has launched various offerings during the lockdown, including DIY kits, QR code menus, Gourmet Celebrations-at-home meals, etc,” added Krishnamoorthy by pointing that their takeaways have been a clear favourite among discerning diners, and we are gratified to note that the popularity continues even now. From their Biryani & Pulao Collection, subscription-based meal service Kitchen Takeover, Gourmet Couch to Tiffin Tales and Feel Good Menu have all emerged victorious during this time.

What’s the future of 5-star delivery?

There’s no denying that even after the lockdown and pandemic, people will be looking at delivery as a source of entertainment. And, restaurants across category will be happy to cater to the need of their loved one.

“Absolutely! As we are moving towards a digital world, more and more people are also opting for the ease of convenience, to order in a meal right from their couch. People are hungry for experiences that are wholesome and unique,” concluded Krishnamoorthy by adding that food delivery allows hoteliers and restaurateurs to engage ingeniously with a wider audience besides those who will walk into a restaurant on a Saturday night.

Commenting on the same Kumar said, “We definitely will be continuing the focus on delivery even after things start normalizing. Delivery will always remain an ancillary source of revenue for us, post-pandemic, as there has been a shift in dining habits that has now become a convenience over anything else.”

With primary focus on the micro-market hotel chains are giving a lot of emphasis to nearby residential complexes and also corporates located around them without limiting themselves to any target market as such.

May Interest: How 5 Star Chefs are Creating an Everlasting Experience for Diners

Thus, we can say that as we navigate and adapt ourselves to the new normal in all aspects of life, there will be a new balance in everything we do including our approach to the business of hospitality. Brands are taking a step out of the box, to ideate and create new experiences that are meaningful, valuable and convenient for customers.

Rishi Bajoria is chief mentor at Royal China Kolkata who has introduced several F&“firsts” like Subway, Chili’s Grill and Bar, Cinnabon and Auntie Anne’s to the Kolkata market, he is a true stalwart in the hospitality industry. The newest addition to his notable repertoire is Royal China, the Cantonese fine-dining brand that is all set to impress the Indian palate of discerning gourmets at the Forum Courtyard Mall. In his latest project as Chief Mentor of Royal China Kolkata, Rishi brings to the table a huge pool of experience through his long-standing association with numero uno F&B brands in the industry. Always keen to introduce brands that provide a first-time experience and set new industry standards, he is very optimistic about the prospects of Royal China in the city. Excerpts from the interview:

How did food happen to you?

It happened by chance. The inspiration was being a foodie and having belief in the growth opportunity in this space in India.

Royal China has already made a mark in other markets in terms of its service and food. What will be the USP of the brand in Kolkata?

The USP of Royal China is the authentic Cantonese flavours that it offers across all its locations. Kolkata does not have any other restaurant which specialises in such authentic Cantonese flavours. The prime location, chic decor and the attached lounge and bar are some of the other USP's that the Kolkata outlet has to offer. 

Who are you targeting as your customer?

Our customer is every foodie who is looking for a 5* experience and authentic Cantonese flavours.

How much money have you invested in getting the franchise right of the brand? Why franchise, you could have also opened a restaurant of your own?

We believe in operating Franchisee Operations as we get the SOP's, systems and support of an established brand. Creating your own brand is a different business model which has its own pros and cons.

We see that there is a sudden rise of cuisine based or region based restaurants in India- it’s no more only Chinese or pan-Asian now…Why so?

This is very good for the overall industry. It shows how the Indian population is getting global and ready to try and appreciate global cuisines.

Are you also delivering as we see that more and more restaurants are now looking at delivery to sustain the covid loss? Any plan opening a cloud-kitchen brand or extending Royal China operation?

Yes we are delivering on our own as well as through third party aggregators. No plans of a cloud kitchen for Royal China. Cloud kitchens do not fit the Fine Dining space and just to clear the myth - Only Home delivery through third party aggregators does not allow restaurants to sustain the losses during COVID/Lockdowns.

Do you think that going forward customers will be more convenience driven in F&B and it will re-shape the eating order behaviour in the country?

I think fine dining is here to stay and once this pandemic is over, people will be eager to step out and relive the complete dine in experience all over again. 

Top learning as a restaurant start-up during the pandemic?

It is difficult and you need to be patient and have deep pockets in order to sustain the current situation.

There’s no question that off-premises dining or home dining has become an essential part of people's live. During the pandemic, it was a necessity. After the pandemic it will live on as the ultimate convenience option, especially for busy families.

But let’s be honest, for most casual dining brands, the off-premises dining experience just doesn’t live up to in-restaurant dining. (And how could it?) When the guests dine in, restaurants have the ability to orchestrate exactly how they experience the brand through ambience, service, food quality, décor, personality and so much more! It only makes sense that when the customer order food, much of what makes the restaurant brand so memorable gets lost on the way home.

That’s why it’s time to think innovatively about how one is going to keep the brand character, even at home. For most restaurants innovation is the key to distinguishing the offering both in the dining scenario as well as in the delivery scenario. So what are the key factors that ensure satiating home-delivery experience? We explored.

Packaging is the key: Importantly it is not just the food but the packaging that has to be innovative as well as with delivery. In terms of innovative packaging, few companies were already bringing unique style to their patrons much before the pandemic. One such example is Biryani By Kilo.

Also Read: Why Packaging will become mainstream in 2021

“With home deliveries, 'packaging of food' and the 'delivery personnels' are the face of the brand. If we get these two right, we automatically provide a great delivery experience to our customers,” said Vishal Jindal, Co-Founder, Biryani By Kilo. 

Another major aspect of packaging apart from ensuring freshness is its attractiveness. Commenting on the same, Sapna Saini, Marketing Head of The Burger Club stated “For the first appearance, we keep the packaging colourful and informative which speaks about the brand and product. It plays an important role.”

Delivering it right: After the packaging, comes how the food is delivered. How food is handled during delivery because it is crucial to gather customer loyalty. “As we are all well aware, the food experience is never the same as dining, especially with fast food. We are made to be prepared fast and consumed even faster but it's a challenge to provide the same experience in delivery as it takes on average 30-40 mins to reach the consumer. Packaging, food handling and timely service are the major factors which we keep in mind to provide the same food experience in delivery,” Saini commented. 

Also, while making sure that every delivery personnel is well sanitised and follows all safety protocols, one can score higher marks for delivering experience. Also updating customers through SMS which they can track the delivery rider journey to their homes or offices as well as order status at all times comes as a bonus point. 

In-house delivery fleet can help: Brands like Biryani By Kilo are very particular with their delivery fleet and who their riders are. “We do not indulge with any third-party riders and hire our delivery executives on our own. Apart from that our delivery personnel are also trained to provide our customers with a good experience by indulging in respectful conversations and also by assisting them,” added Jindal. 

In-house delivery gives full control over the delivery experience. With the statistics highlighting how critical a good delivery experience is to customers in deciding whether to order from the same restaurant again, one might view keeping full control over delivery logistics as a smart business decision. Also for handling large packaging with minute details and offerings, the delivery person has to be well-educated about the brand. 

May Interest: May Interest: Dark Kitchen & Delivery Summit: A mecca for Food Delivery and Dark Kitchen brand

Customers demand transparency: Today’s customers demand more and more transparency from the brand’s end with regards to the ingredients used, cooking conditions, packaging and even delivery. So bringing innovations to delivery experiences definitely gives them more comfort.

Biryani By Kilo showcase all the 'Safety Standards' followed on their website. To make the customer more comfortable with online delivery in such times brands use tracking app that not only tracks the location but also the temperature of the delivery personnel.

The importance of innovative off-premises delivery has definitely increased. It's not just the food but the whole experience counts. 

                                                                                                       Edited By: Nusra

Covid-19 pandemic has changed the whole gamut of restaurant and food service business, making it the worst affected segment not just in India but across globe. According to industry sources, almost 40 per cent of the restaurants were permanently closed or were forced to shut shops because of the other operational and rental costs that they were unable to pay because of the losses. And, during this time what comes as rescuer for the already floating sector was the delivery and dark kitchen model that at least gave them a reason to survive and beat all the losses.

Like every year, Restaurant India has been organizing conferences and webinars based on the latest trends and researches. Restaurant India organized its 2^nd edition of the Dark Kitchen and Delivery Summit, virtually that witnessed great footfall from the restaurant as well as food service professionals, chefs and food-tech fraternity.  Food delivery giants, dark kitchen players, restaurants that transformed their business into delivery model, tech-solution providers and food ingredient and raw material suppliers came together at the event held on 20^th May at multiple virtual platforms.

Keeping in mind the theme of The Dark Kitchen and Delivery summit was ‘building leadership in delivery and dark-kitchen space’, where experts shared their insights on how to create a dark-kitchen business concept and build a delivery business to scale when everything other than delivery is not operational due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Building a dark-kitchen business

The Food Service Industry has to think omni-channel and need to think beyond how technology is disrupting their industry to how technology can improve the guest experience. Cloud-kitchens have disrupted the food industry the same way Netflix did for home entertainment or what Uber did to the traditional taxi industry.

“The beauty of today’s food delivery business is the ecosystem that is far more evolved. You have aggregators who is doing the last mile, infrastructure players like us that is focused on building the state of the art kitchen, how do you reduce the cost of infrastructure, how do you standardize a lot of things within the kitchens so that the brand can focus on building the quality product. Then, you have multiple enablers around in terms of supply chain, packaging specialist, tech-specialists etc,” said Joseph Cherian, India Head, Kitchen Plus.

Delivery is the next global fad

There’s no denying that brand like Domino’s that built a global delivery ecosystem was always a tech-focused company and not a dine-in kind of a venture. Founded in early 1960s, it focused on delivery rather than being at the forefront. And, today it could be termed as one of the top delivery company globally.

“I believe Domino’s as inventor of dark kitchens. The company was founded in 1960s with core focus on delivering food at home, till 1990s. The concept was actually to be in back allies and not be very visible and been ever to cover the delivery area, added Vishal Kapur, COO, Alamar Foods that operate Domino’s in MENA region by adding that post 1990s, the focus of the business became delivery and take away and that’s when we started building more stores that was visble. “ I think now, since 2020 with the offset of covid, the focus is back on the delivery business. And, I think it’s going to stay and at Domino’s we believe that we were built for delivery,” he pointed.

It’s all about customization

“The consumption pattern has changed quite a bit post the pandemic where people were looking at some entertainment at home and entertainment at home means consuming food which is not necessarily healthy but is helping customers stay really sane,” shared Ankit Nagori of Eatfit that continues to sell the healthy food other than the healthier variant of pizza, subway sandwich etc. Eatfit majorly focused on corporate and office clients who were not willing to eat cafeteria food but preferred and healthier, homely style food. But with lockdown, when office and other corporate business had to shut shops, Eatfit entered into the cloud-kitchen space catering to a bigger audience.

Commenting on the same, Kent Wu, COO, Taiwan-based JustKitchen that has14 in-house food brands and 3, third party brands including TFIFridays.

“Dark kitchen business is here to stay. The e-commerce revolution that we saw in 2008-2009 for retail. Similarly, we have seen dark kitchen and delivery grew for food in last few years,” added Wu who believed that for delivery foods like pizza, pasta, etc work well in a dark kitchen business. However, their soups are one of the largest selling item on the menu.

The conference was well received by audience as well as sponsors who supported Dark Kitchen and Delivery summit to be a successful event. The event was organized by Restaurant India, Title Partner – ‘Cremica Food Industries Ltd.’,  Restaurant Automation Partner, UrbanPiper, Session Partner- Knox.

“We look forward to the Dark Kitchen summit every year, but the virtual format made us a little skeptical. However, it turned out to be a fairly decent event with ample opportunity to connect with participants and talk about the brand. Not to mention, panel discussions were as great as they are at Dark Kitchen Summit,’ concluded Eshwar K Vikas, Co-Founder & CEO, Mukunda Foods.

As the trend of online food delivery apps is increasing it is essential for the business owner to stay updated with the upcoming trend. Many things should be kept in mind for creating your own mobile application for the upcoming demand of the market. When the business owner wishes to start an online food delivery application, they should create different versions of the application, like the application for the customer, for the delivery service, and for the restaurant.

Challenge Faced While Developing App for Customers

The customer must be provided with a wide variety on the menu, but many of the food delivery business fails to offer it. They need to understand that customers exploring the menu of the nearest restaurants should be easily available in the app according to the customer's requirements and taste. The customers should have easy access to order the food directly from the app. The app will help the customer to place an order for food from the nearby restaurant.

Challenge Faced While Developing Delivery Service Solution

The list of the order must be easily visible to the delivery person in a comprehensive manner. The delivery service must have a different option of ‘reset password’ and ‘change password’ option in the app. Also, it must provide the advanced option of the active status of the delivery men. The delivery men can select inactive options whenever they want to go inactive due to any of the reasons.

Challenges Faced While Developing Restaurant Manager Solution

There must be easy access for the restaurant manager to view what the customers are ordering from their restaurant. There must not be a single confusion in the restaurant manager’s mind about the food order of the hungry customers. If due to any of the confusion, if the restaurant delivers the wrong order to the customer without understanding the need of the customer, it can be very harmful to the restaurant’s reputation. All things should be so simple that a customer can easily understand it. There must be a proper connection medium between customers, delivery boys, and the management, which will be helpful for all of them.

Essential Tips for Marketing that Must Not Be Avoided

Building a food delivery app is a startup idea for any business entrepreneur to start an online food delivery business. It does not end at developing the food delivery app? No, it is not sufficient for just developing the food delivery app. It is essential that marketing for the developed food delivery app must be done by different means. Many different questions may arise in the owner's mind about how they can gain a competitive advantage among other similar services? For guiding the business owner with a different answer, it is necessary for the business owner to serve on the internet and gain knowledge regarding the online food delivery business. The complete knowledge is provided regarding valuable insights into mobile application marketing for food delivery services.

Remembering Points While Creating and Marketing Food Ordering Portal:

Invest in a Custom Built Website

By buying a clone script or clone app like eventbrite, you can start with the food business, but to succeed, you need much more. The entrepreneur must focus on building a unique identity in the business market for a good impression on the customer's mind. The food venture can get the advantage of custom design and programming provided by the app. It is very important to start off with rich-featured and a secure website so that people can easily trust you.

Target a Smaller Area and Then Expand

It is always beneficial to start the business by having the focus on a limited area after analyzing the demand of that particular area. The business owner must have all his focus on building a stable brand name. After achieving success in smaller areas, business entrepreneurs can expand their business on a large scale. They must figure out issues and conveniently search for solutions. The cost of the project development must be in the budget of the business venture. For example, GrubHub started his journey from Chicago. After the great response from the customer in Chicago. GrubHub got its complete focus on other US cities.

Customize According to Local Demands

The success of online food ordering apps like FoodPanda, Ubereats, and GrubHub totally depends on how well they satisfy the needs of the local area customers. It is very important that the food ordering and delivery business should take care of the local environment. They must have complete knowledge of what works is going out with offline and online marketing. It can be possible that the restaurants in the customer's target area do not have efficient internet connectivity, proper food preparation, and delivery standards, etc.

Adding Helpful and Innovative Features

The advanced content filters can be developed that allow a search based on the timing of food delivery from the beginning. Advanced features such as powerful and flexible CMS, review and rating system, advanced search option, user-friendly checkout process, sales report, revenue statistics, SMS gateway, live chat integration can be provided in the application.

The Order Placement Procedure Must Be Simpler

People prefer online ordering services because it is very convenient for them. So the process of placing the order must be quick and easy. The ordering process can be improved by saving past orders, delivery addresses, partial payment details, and other relevant information on the dashboard. Different payment options like cash on delivery, payment by credit or debit card or even paying with the help of e-wallet makes the payment way easier to the customer.

Conclusion

The business entrepreneur always has to keep in mind the target audience is the best way to market the food delivery app. The business owner is advised to launch the online food ordering website on a standard script like uber eats clone script. The business venture can build a unique design, custom features, and sharp marketing strategy by using the ubereats clone script. It allows the customer to select their meal and different ingredients to add in the meal as per their choice.

After the development of the app, the customer does not have to wait in the row in the traffic to reach the restaurant of their choice and even do not have to carry the wallet with him. All this is taken care of in the app that has been technologically enhanced and enriched with features. It is using many different services like real-time tracking, food delivery acceptance features for the delivery provider, multilingual, cash and card options. It works on the simple idea of providing the food on a customer doorstep whenever the customer requires it.

Author Bio:

Gaurav Kanabar, Founder and CEO of Alphanso Tech, an India based IT Consulting company that provides video streaming platform development and other app development services to individuals as per their specified demand. Besider this the founder also loves to deliver excellent niche helping readers to have deep insight into the topic. Contact Gaurav Kanabar at Twitter or Linkedin Profile. 

Online food service is gaining its ground and reaching its peak. People admire online food delivery service because of its simplicity, transparency and to avoid public places. People decide what they order, where they order, how they pay and when to deliver. All these have recently come into light after the fear of spreading Covid-19.

Coronavirus spreads mainly through respiratory droplets from the cough or sneeze of an infected person and to avoid this, people are avoiding crowded places such as restaurants and other gatherings. With most millennials prefer to order online, the demand keeps on increasing. At this crucial time, cloud kitchens are helping restaurants to keep up their work and acting as a savior to them.

Food-tech majors Zomato and Swiggy have announced several safety measures in an effort to combat corona virus.

Deepinder Goyal of Zomato tweeted, "A consumer can now choose for this option through our ‘delivery instructions’ feature. App update over the weekend will make this explicitly clear to everyone." Through this option, the delivery executive will keep the delivery on a clean surface outside the door, and the consumer receives a photo of the delivered food. The consumer can then pick up the package at their convenience,” he added.

While the Bengaluru-based startup sent an email to all its consumers stating the different measures it is taking to combat the situation. The main focus of the announcements were the different measures that the food delivery platforms were taking to ensure that their delivery partners followed all the safety and hygiene guidelines approved by the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs. They also announced that the consumer will now have the option of choosing to ask the delivery partner to leave the food at their doorstep.

Commenting on the same Anshu Raj, Founder, caterspoint shared, “People have now stopped moving out of their houses and prefer to stay in closed doors. Eating healthy and right also is a major concern. Consumers are not in the favor to dine outside in the restaurants and hence this has given a rise in the demand for online ordering.”

Customers are ordering online but only from the trusted brands they are aware of. Brands are now stressing upon the measures that they are taking to prevent and provide hygienically assured food to them. Various steps like using of mask, hand sanitizers and washing hands is being practiced by all. This has given a green light to the brands for the customers who are frequently ordering online. “Through deliveries we can make them aware and also ask them what they suggest and precautions they are taking to prevent this virus. We understand our client’s psychic and are working on the same so that they get the best of what we can serve. We take care of the smallest details while preparing food and also we try to aware people through social media and other sources of how our delivery is quality assured,” added Raj.

Cashing-in on Delivery

“We are observing a rise in the number of people who have started ordering food because of work-from-home policies that have kicked in across India. We also feel fortunate that over the years we have built trustworthy brands that our patrons still subscribe to, in this cautious phase. It is not that customers are preferring more online food at this time, it is that given they are working from home in several instances, it becomes easier to juggle work with personal care when the requirement of food is managed by us,” said Raghav Joshi, India CEO, Rebel Foods.

It is now very apparent that social distancing is the most effective way to contain the dramatic spread of coronavirus. This means that many people are and will be staying at home while continuing to work and service their other responsibilities. It is particularly trying to be isolated in such uncertain times, and these players believe that great, delicious food can be a small but welcome treat from the difficulties that we face as we fight the battle against the virus. It is, after all, the simple pleasures that get us through the tough times!

These are unprecedented times, we’ve never witnessed an illness affect the community at such a large scale. The fact that it’s spreading quickly and a lot about the virus is still unknown, has made a lot of people concerned. What we do know is that the virus is spreading rapidly from person-to-person.

India is channelizing more and more of its focus on career. Everyone is precisely focused on shaping their career and have little or no spare time to regularly indulge in three-course homemade and healthy meals. The hiccups of daily cooking get even more challenging for professionals and students, who are moving out of the comforts of their homes and residing in a different state and city. Making lives easier for the busy bees, came in several food tech startups with their apps that respond to your hunger growls, no-cooking and sick days.

The easiest and fastest ways that all the food-tech startups adopted to become household names are through appealing offers, discounts, cash back, flexible payment modes and fastest deliveries. But which are the ones, which have made it big in the food-tech industry? Here is a list of few of the top food tech startups that are taking the Indian market by storm.

Must Read: 6 Reasons Why Restaurateurs Are Annoyed With Food-Tech Companies

Swiggy

Average Rating on App Store: 4.3

One of the most favourite food apps, Swiggy has been an instant favourite. Founded by Nandan Reddy, Rahul Jaimini and Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy is a food ordering and delivery company that caters foodservice solutions for restaurants. The app connects its customers with the several restaurants and food joints and makes it easy to order food with a few clicks. Founded in 2014, the company has already bagged a total of $1.5 billion in massive funding.

In Pics: 7 Women Changing Food Service Scene In India

Zomato

Average Rating on App Store: 4.3

Known for being hyperpure, the Bangalore based startup provides more than doorstep food delivery. The brainchild of Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, Zomato offers its customers a full range of services for the entire food value chain that includes doorstep food delivery, takeaways, restaurant table bookings, etc.

Zomato made headlines last month pertaining to its latest endeavour of implementing drones for its food delivery in hands with Tech Eagle Innovations. It has a much longer presence in the country since its inception in 2008. The food-tech startup has come a long way and has reportedly managed to fetch $653.8 million of funding for the business so far.

Fresh Menu

Average Rating on App Store: 4.2

Founder and currently the CEO Rashmi Daga established Fresh Menu in 2014 and since then it has successfully raised $24.4 million funding through its app.

Following Zomato, it is reported that Fresh Menu might soon follow a ‘farm-to-farm’ model.

Box8

Average Rating on App Store: 4.2

Laying the bricks of foundation in 2012, Anshul Gupta and Amit Raj co-founded the Mumbai headquartered Box8. The food delivery startup has spread its roots to Pune, Gurgaon and Bangalore, and has already risen total funding of $12.1 million.

Faasos

Average Rating on App Store: 4.1

The first brick of foundation of Faasos was laid by Jaydeep Burman and Kallol Banerjee in 2011. Standing in 2019, the online food ordering company has come a long way, managing to raise $103.7 million in funding over eight rounds and is currently available across 15 cities in the country. Latest reports also indicate that the Pune-based food-tech company is eyeing global expansion in 2019. Dubai is one of the countries that are listed on its cards of future expansions, where the online food delivery company will supposedly start three of its kitchens.

This article was originally published on Entrepreneur India.

Mumbai has essentially been known as the city of dreams. The culture of this city is vibrant and dare I say a boisterous one. It is a fantastic mix of different cuisines, food, language, culture, fine arts and festivals and not to mention the many faces of Bollywood.

Must Read: Why It's Important To Switch To Digital Menu Boards

Food is one of the most important facets of Mumbai's culture. This maximum city's blind date with food often ensures a whirlwind affair, a very passionate romance! Every Mumbaikar has a weakness for local street food and for local cuisines. This diverse city is famous for street food such as vada pav, chakli, chivda, modak, batata rassa, dabeli, missal pav among many others. Mumbai is such a diverse city that its people have happily adapted to many different cuisines and even customized them into mouth-watering dishes tailored for the local palate.

FreshMenu understands this tryst of the inhabitants with the street fair and tweaked a few local dishes that would make them fall in love with food all over again. Our talented chefs understand the pulse of this lively city and have curated dishes that suit this cosmopolitan palate.

Optimising the Menu

While optimising the menu for your online food delivery service business in Mumbai, you should keep a note of all the points mentioned below.

- Research (Identifying need gap)

- R&D specific to the city

- Menu testing

- Menu shortlist

- Product introduction and promotion

- Promoting it within micro influencers

- Data gathering and improvement

Menu Localization

Vada Pav Sliders

We gave Mumbaikars a variety of vada pav sliders, which is one of the favourites go on the snack option for the local food lovers. Sitting on the promenade at Marine Drive on an evening gazing at the Arabian Sea with a vada pav slider is a sight to treasure. Vada Pav is believed to have been invented by a vendor at the Dadar train station in the 1960s for the commuters who were always in a hurry! There’s no hurry to finish our delicious take on this classic – well-seasoned and tempered potato patties coated with a spiced gram-flour batter, are deep fried and sandwiched between African peri-peri seasoning, brioche buns.

Click To Read: 4 Strategies That Can Make Your Menu A Star Menu

Or maybe sitting in the balcony and sipping into a piping hot cup of tea and a bite on a Vada Pav Slider with Peri-Peri Mayo and Brioche Bun is a delight, which no one would want to miss out on. This mouth-watering Vada Pav is well-seasoned and tempered potato patties coated with a spiced gram-flour batter, are deep fried and sandwiched between peri-peri mayo smeared, halved brioche buns. Deep-fried green chillies tossed with salt accompany your delicious Vada Pav.

Spicy Falafel Wraps

Apart from being the biggest metropolitan city in the country “Amchi Mumbai” promises a high adrenaline rush and diverse city life to all the inhabitants. FreshMenu curated Spicy Falafel Wraps for those who love their food rolled in a wrap, grab this delicious combo in their busy hectic schedule. This wrap will be a sheer delight to all the Mumbaikars who squeezed themselves in the crammed local train. It comes with Falafel wrapped in a soft pita with pickled veggies, crunchy lettuce and a Tahini spread.

Also Read: Points To Consider While Designing Menu For Restaurant

Adding Local Flavour

Local Flavour adds an interesting medley for different folks with a different lifestyle just like how this big city promises a home to these chirpy tireless Mumbaikars. FreshMenu tied up with Mumbai FC Team the previous year and co-created the menu that has familiarity with local tastes.

In a largely mixed environment of growth in retail markets across the world, India continues to be a bright spot. Over the last two years, the food service sector has seen an exponential growth reaching double digits. According to a recent report by FICCI-PwC, India’s food service is projected to grow at more than 10% over the next five years (2018–23).

Seeing all the opportunities and growth that the sector is offering, food-tech space has seen a new boom in the last few years. Technology is disrupting the market with the advent of web-based ordering and use of AI and IoT in ordering revolutionising home delivery with faster availability of food at ease.

“The food service industry also vouches for the higher demands in Tier II and Tier III cities. The rise in the number of transactions via mobile platforms has prompted retailers and e-com players to focus their growth efforts beyond the metros in India,” said Anurag Mathur, Leader, Retail and Consumer, PwC India.

What is Driving This Change

Not only this, the entry of new age food tech players has led to a massive transformation of how restaurant industry operated in last few years. “Growing disposable income and busy lifestyles of the young and working population, coupled with increasing internet penetration and rising smartphone users, will continue to drive India’s food tech market through 2021,” added the report.

With more than 900 food delivery start-ups in the country, the food tech space saw an investment worth US$370 million in 2017–18, up from US$70 million in 2016–17, which is more than 400% growth.  Not only this major players like Swiggy, Zomato, FreshMenu, UberEats to name a few are constantly working to enhance the customer experience through their offers and discounts to lure more customers and add on the regular or loyal customers.

“India is a very different market as compare to globe. Scalability takes time in India and that’s where internet penetration comes in. For the first year we have seen people ordering food through Instagram,” shared Radhika Khandelwal, Owner, Fig & Maple.

Increase in Penetration of Smartphone

India has seen exponential growth in number of mobile phone users. Equally impressive has been the growth in internet access. Although mobile phones allow us to stay connected, it is the convergence of internet access and smartphones that has caused significant shifts in consumer awareness, outlook and behaviour. Also, people are now dependant on phones and internet for easy access to ordering food and finding the nearest restaurant and bar they want to spend and enjoy their time.

“Year on year technology has seen a new boom in restaurant’s growth. Restaurants have witnessed an increase in home delivery sales, branding focusing on an improved communication,” pointed, Pravesh Pandey of big Brewski that is planning to come up with a self integrated customer app to enhance the customer experience.

Thus, we can say that the emergence and success of food delivery and ordering platform is a matter of convenience, reliability and easy access. From providing backend support, to enabling easy ordering and payment, technology has set a new dimension for the growth of restaurants in India.

Its popularity caught the fancy of people and with the unavailability of Bohri cuisine in the market; The Bohri Kitchen, a pop up that invites guests to illustrate the best of Bohri cuisine at Kapadia’s Colaba home, brought a different rage for all the food lovers, adding an extra zero into their business. Launched 3 years ago, this kitchen lets you savor a paid home dining experience with your friends and family.

In conversation with Restaurant India, Munaf Kapadia, Chief Eating Officer, The Bohri Kitchen shares how unintentionally he got into food business, changing the concept of Home Chefs in India.

The Food Journey

The idea to invite people over for a paid meal was a hit and that’s how The Bohri Kitchen, a concept food dining experience in Mumbai, was born. We started 3 years back and it started off as an experiment. Today, it looks like I am running a food business.

When we started, Munaf said,” The goal was to keep my mother busy and somewhere along those lines I discovered that The Bohri Kitchen has turned into an opportunity for me to try being an entrepreneur.”

Though there was a gap in the market, where Bohri food is unavailable, the concept of opening a restaurant demanded the financial bandwidth or risk capital to open a restaurant.

“It truly makes me happy with the kind of accolades, support we have received and slowly and steadily it’s teaching me as a person in terms of how patient you need to be and what challenges you need to go through while running a business”, added Munaf.

Make it Profitabe & Sustainable

The restaurant industry is currently going through unprecedented change with delivery as one of the fastest-moving trends in its history. As the availability of online ordering, delivery and related off-premise channels continue to proliferate, the impact on in-restaurant dining as well as brand and quality perceptions are an ongoing concern.

Munaf said,” The home delivery segment has immense competition in the market, and somewhere down the line, unless you are a multibillion dollar brand, you need to stop worrying about competition; you need to focus on what your strengths are.” And that’s kind what he is trying to do.

To crack the delivery business, Munaf is following food trends, and working on giving his menu a healthier twist. “Our story is defeating the clutter that we operate it”, said the young entrepreneur.

The foodtech market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% during 2016 -2021. With increasing private equity and venture capital funding, the foodtech companies are focusing towards expanding their business in Tier II & III cities across India. With growing competition, online food ordering companies are focusing on providing faster delivery in major metro cities to increase their customer base.

Spearheading the technology and digital thrust of the Restaurant sphere at the Indian Restaurant Congress, Anand Thakur, Chief Digital Officer, Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd shares the technological dominance that has changed the delivery and dining experience altogether.

The Win Win Situation

With technology overpowering the Restaurant Business, there have been partnerships created that benefiting both the diners and the partners. When asked about the same, Anand said,” Technology is big and it has been coming off age for the past years.”

As far as food tech is concerned, Anand continued,” This is the era where things will change with concepts like social media, digital marketing and democratising delivery in the Restaurant space with technology touching all the multiple aspects of the Restaurant Business like customer acquisition, delivery and dining.”

“It is important to have a strategy in place to ensure that you are on that bandwagon and do not miss out on this wave of technology”, added Anand. 

Think Big: Delivery or Dining?

The dining experience changed with technology capturing the restaurant space. Few months ago, technology for restaurants was perceived to be something where you order and the food gets delivered at your doorstep.

Anand opines,” Without any doubt, dining makes the restaurant business more feasible. It is important that the Restaurant Business in general, cracks the right balance between dining and takeaway.”

Still Lagging Behind

It is no more an unknown fact that the concept of 30 min delivery as promised by Dominos is not that fulfilling anymore. When asked about the same, Anand said,” Apart from the product itself, delivery is our forte. There has been a huge and tremendous growth in the recent past and with technology growing faster, there have been certain issues where Dominos as a brand has not been able to fulfill the 30 minutre delivery promise. Given all the delivery businesses in the country, we are still the fastest and the best. Our intent for the future is to make sure that the phrase of 30 min quick delivery is fulfilled.”

Multiple aspects of food business which starts from customer acquisition, to the experience within the restaurant that includes not just the lighting or ambience but also food and with technology in hand, it is facilitating the whole experience.

Food For Thought

Indian Restaurant Congress 2018 brings together the biggest minds of the industry, sharing plethora of knowledge and ideas with each other.

“I am here to share my understanding of food and tech put together. Gaining knowledge from top players in the business of how they see technology and delivery with measures taken to fulfill the much awaited gap in the market”, said Anand, CDO, JubilantFoodworks Ltd.

With more people looking out for convenient eating options, the demand for delivery is on rise. To cope up with this demand, many restaurants especially QSRs are opting for third-party delivery services. With rapid expansion of delivery aggregators like Swiggy, Foodpanda, and UberEats, the restaurant business is a sure shot to grow, and thus one can witness many outlets coming up with the delivery only model. Indeed, ordering restaurant meals for delivery is becoming an everyday part of life for many.

For consumers, they provide an ever-broadening range of eating choices delivered right to their door. Presently, on an average 40 percent of the sales in restaurants are driven through these delivery fleets. However, for the restaurants' owners, these services come with a mixed blessing added with some complications. Nitish Jha, Founder of World In a Box Gurugram says, “Third-party delivery services are the most unreliable fleet for last-mile deliveries as there is no sense of ownership and they do not care for customer delight or experience unless it is by aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato who are in a war against each other to win users.”

According to Jha, with an unrealistic payout structure by these third-party vendors which makes a delivery boy earn 22-30k a month, it becomes difficult for many restaurants to hire their own set of delivery employees.

Another major bane that many restaurants are facing from the third party delivery is the non-accountability of the order journey. “We have no means to track when exactly the order was delivered, in what state was it delivered and with what ease was the order delivery co-ordinated with the customer. All these factors constitute for a major impression on the customer's mind and a very difficult task for the customer to acknowledge the accountability shift when it comes to the delivery through agencies,” said Satvik Ahuja, Co-Founder, NutrioBox which operates in Delhi and Gurugram. Nutriobox is currently receiving 50 percent of their orders through its own channels like the website, on call and walk-in.

Also, these third-party agencies are adopting systems in which they aren't sharing the customer data with the restaurants. This leaves the restaurants handicapped with no means to know their customer database and accordingly tweak their marketing campaigns for higher repeated sales.

In a fine dining restaurant like Mother India, Delhi, only 15 percent of the total sales are formulated by the third party services. “There are various factors that can affect the potential delivery like traffic, excessive orders, shortage of delivery personnel, etc. And the delay in orders can haunt the reputation of the brand,” adds Nandini Neeraj, Owner of Mother India Restaurant.

Where restaurants have no way to engage with the customers taking advantage of the delivery services, it is important for them to be able to deliver personalized messages. While the performance of the different delivery services varies by different agencies, it thus becomes a hand picking situation for the restaurants while choosing their aggregators.

When faced with the question of whether to pay for a third-party delivery company or not, factors like highest optimized taskforce, faster pickups and delivery during peak hours, pay-out structure, rider management and customer feedback mechanism should be taken into serious consideration. “The foremost factor should also be the commission that these agencies demand per order. In QSR business especially, margins are quite low and it becomes imperative to wisely share it,” Ahuja adds.

Grab A Diet is a joint venture run by a deadly duo pair of Marrie Sharma and Bhavya Khera. From arranging the finance, paperwork, infrastructure, goods and staffs all on their own, they have certainly understood the minute pieces of this industry. Excerpts from the interview:

How did your journey as a foodpreneur start?

We were always into food industry one way or the other. We have already worked for healthy outlet and owing to our experience in this field; we somehow managed to raise funds to start our own business. We basically wanted to tell people that healthy eating does not mean having only boiled meal or eating less but it means nutritious eating. The idea behind our venture was to serve those people who are very skeptic to their diet and healthy food habits.

What story lies behind the name Grab A Diet?

Since we are a health food outlet, we needed a name that would appeal to our prospective customers and also hold a meaning. The unique name that we have is true to the quality of food that we deliver. We were familiar with the trends going on in the industry. That’s why we wanted a unique and different way  to attract customers.

Why GK1 as the location?

The people in this area are particular about their health and quality of food. They understand that good nutrition is an indispensable part of leading a healthy lifestyle.

What are the special culinary items served at your venue?

Our healthy pita shawarma, grilled/baked fish and burgers are the most fast-selling item on our menu.

What is the average footfall?

This is our first month and so far satisfied with the new and repeat customers. The number of customers is growing every day. We are also getting positive feedback from customers for which we are really grateful.

How much money have you invested in your business?

We have spent around 11 to 12 lakhs till now and we are expecting to spend even more in the future. The customers’ positive response will certainly add towards our business.

How do you see the health trend growing with time?

We have felt that people are now more health conscious. We believe that in near future, more and more people will turn to health food.

How is the response from the customers?

Most of the reviews by the buyers are highly positive which has been encouraging us to provide more improved customer service. So far the customers have been very polite in sending their responses.

Any expansion plans?

 Yes, we have planned for expansion of our delivery restaurant. We have planned to open casual dining as well as a delivery kitchen in other parts of India.

Born and brought up in Delhi, Sarthak always found the food industry attractive. Being from a non F&B background, he initially started working with Zomato from where he gained knowledge about the industry. Excerpts from the interview:

When did you plan to enter this business?

I am a foodie kind of a person who have have been a part of various brands in the past. So, doing something in this industry was always there. I always wanted to provide comfort food to the people craving for good food late in the night. That was the entire idea of coming up with my venture.

Tell us something about the products served at your venture.

We have an amazing range of products including pizzas, big juicy burgers, organic products and many more. We are trying to serve almost every kind of quick bites to the people to satisfy their hunger. Our bacon is directly imported from Australia from the beginning. The lamb that we use is absolutely authentic without any mixture. We believe that no matter what, customer satisfaction is a priority to us by providing the best quality food. We are trying to provide authentic taste to our customers keeping the hygiene factor in mind.

How do you promote your brand?

Frankly, we have not spent a single penny towards promoting our brand. It’s been nine months now since I stepped into this business and things have been going extremely well without any external marketing strategies. I only believe in the ‘Word of Mouth’ marketing which has gained us, customers, all throughout. In fact, we are planning to come up with a day venture as well after seeing the response from the customers.

Tell us something about your menu.

We do about 40 pizzas, 14 burgers and about 9-10 main dishes at our venue. I wanted the menu to be full of varieties where people can come and enjoy different items for a longer period of time. We are serving both vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian customers.

How are you maintaining your venue and food which are prepared there?

We have a separate team of chefs and staffs present at our venture. In total, we have a team of 25 people who are working together as a team for making our brand a huge success. We actually have a three-stage check before the food is delivered to our customers. The first check is done by the chef while preparing the food. The second check is done where we make sure that the packing is done properly. The last check is where we make sure that the food meets the special instruction demanded from the customer so that they get the food exactly how they wanted.

What is the average footfall?

On a daily basis, we do about 45-50 orders. We do about 1600-1700 orders a month from our one outlet. 

How do you see the growth this segment is witnessing in the current time?

Food is a never-ending business. Like when I started this business, there were about 120 restaurants catering to midnight customers. But now the number has gone up to 260 in just about a year. We can expect to see every restaurant opening till 3-4 at night in the upcoming time keeping the demands in mind.

What are your expansion plans?

We are looking towards including multiple cuisines like Asian, Japanese, crocodile food and many others in the upcoming time. We are also planning to expand to other cities as well, Chandigarh could be the first city we are going to target. In the upcoming 3-4 years, we are planning to move pan India.

Online ordering has created a sensation among the new customers which has changed their way of interacting with the restaurants. India’s online food ordering sector is experiencing a growth of 15 per cent on a quarterly basis and is expected to rise more in the upcoming time.

Majority of the diners have started to order online which clearly states that it has surpassed the phone ordering. Various apps like Zomato, Swiggy, and Foodpanda are finding loyal customers who are constantly involved with them regarding having food.

Online Ordering Surpassed Phone Ordering

Customers these days spend more time on their phone making it fast and easy for them to place an order ata restaurant. Most of the restaurants have started providing online delivery to meet customers' expectation. It's meeting the demands of the young generations who want everything to be fast and easy. They love the concept where they can have their preferred food sitting right at their home. “Transformation to online ordering is a good step in many ways. It eliminates the condition of having a middleman thereby eliminating staff errors,” shares Gold Chaudhary, Chef at Barocks.

Mobile Apps Are Driving Huge Sales

Online ordering through websites and apps are also in huge demand. These apps allow a person to create their account and provide them with an option to reorder their past selection directly.

Driving Sales

Restaurants are witnessing almost 25 per cent increase in their orders while using the online delivery option as compared to the in-restaurant orders. It allows the user to take as much time they want. “It’s not just the millennial who is appreciating this service. Young as well as old people are feeling the same way. Today’s diners want the service to be quick and convenient and more importantly to be delivered right at their doors,” says Anubhav Dubey, Co-owner, Chai Sutta Bar

Increase in Competition

Restaurants are always surrounded by competitions. Online ordering is one waaay to combat this competition. Offering the customer various discounts and coupons can drive them towards your restaurant ordering more often in the future. It also creates a sense of loyalty among both the parties which is healthy for business. But it’s also going to be tough as providing such offers are going to heat up as we will move through the year.

Allowing to Collect Customer Information

Usually, when customers visit your restaurant, they come, eat, pay for their food and leave. There is no kind of information left about the person who just dined out with you. Online ordering provides you this amazing marketing tool which helps a lot in expanding your business. Hence, it has become a hot trend in the current food market. With their information, you can directly reach to them anytime informing about the various offers and discounts your restaurant is going through.

It is, in fact, the perfect time to utilise the power of online ordering. It is a trend which is here to stay allowing a lot of opportunities for the restaurants to mark their presence among the customers.       

Hunger sees no time and no location, one can feel hungry anywhere anytime.  With change in our lifestyle, midnight craving is no longer a sporadic thing. Modern day lifestyle has been a catalyst in stimulating the growth of midnight eateries in India. Open all night food joints business has boomed over the last 5 years.

With the arrival of food delivery start-ups like Zomato and Swiggy, late-night food delivery restaurants got a push from them as they resolved their issues by providing delivery and by listing them in their directory. Like every year we set some trend in business and this year also there are few trends that are going to rule the 'Late Night Delivery market.

Fast food over the main course:

The late it gets, the ticket size for food purchase increases which has resulted in the rise in the demand of the fast food.  Late night delivery came in demand due to the change in our lifestyles. With late night working hours, the demand for midnight snacks increased and now fast foods like pizza and burgers are among the most ordered food items on Zomato during late night order. There are many reasons behind the high demand for fast food, factors like the desire to have some snacks, they are conventional food and majority of people like them.

No more late-night delivery charges:

Along with the demand and need for late night delivery came into existence arrived the concept of additional charges for late night delivery. Initially, there were very few restaurants serve late night and with not much competition they started charging an additional amount for late night delivery services. From the last two years, the increase in the number of such eateries brought a major concept among these restaurants. Due to the increased competition, they reduced their delivery charges to a point that now there will not be delivery charge applicable on late night delivery.

Residential areas will now be the target:

Corporates and commercial areas have been the ideal location for late-night delivery restaurants as these places have provided a potential consumer to the brand.  Eateries target these areas because of all night and late-night working hours and have been an ideal location for the potential consumer. With the change in our lifestyle, the demand for late night food delivery increased in residential areas and especially in metro cities. So, this year we will see a shift in focus from commercial areas to residential areas of such restaurants.

This year is expected to be a year full of beaming opportunities for food industry. These trends are going to rule the late night delivery food industry and will set the ground for future of food industry.

The Journey

For me travel has always involved an itinerary of exploring the city through their local food, and fortunately I got to do a lot within India and outside. My brother, Sanchit is from hospitality industry. We’re a team, I explored different food concepts when I was working in New York & he explored different concepts by serving them in Dubai. Also, our family is like any other Delhi family which lives for food & feeding everyone with love. So it just made sense for us to move back & together build a brand people would fall in love with.

Inspiration of the Concept

Delhi NCR, especially Gurgaon is a melting pot of different cultures appreciating other cultures with big hearts (dillidilwallonki). There is a huge variety of options in food, but not enough with regional cuisine. India’s cultural diversity makes each cuisine unique in flavour, technique and ingredients. So we tried to revive those and deliver tastefully. Tawa Tales was born with the aim to create a collection of selected recipes from across the country to appeal the urban palate of Delhi.

The USP

I’m a firm believer of building an emotional connection with the customer, by not just delivering food but delivering an experience. We attempt at engaging all the senses and build a long lasting relationship. Its good food packaged beautifully and served humbly. Our menu has been curated by our friends and natives from different states of India, and our dishes are presented in modern avatars like ParsiPoroPavSlider, Butter Chicken Pocket and Laal Maas Roll.

Creating Experience

We aim to create a memorable experience for our customers by personally connecting with them through food and great dining experience at their homes and offices. We believe that food lovers deserve packaging that is both, high quality and fun. We have tried to keep our brand personal and relatable at every stage, taking care of every detail, even our cutlery is tied with a bow, since just the act of untying a bow brings such pleasure to the mind similar to opening a present. Each order includes a handwritten postcard for our customers with a thank you note. But we’re most excited about our Insta Shot food Mat. To help our customers with their love for food photography and getting that Insta-perfect shot, we send out interactive food mats with every delivery. All they have to do is place their food and cutlery as directed, and our mat will do the magic.

The Pricing                                               

Reduced GDP will lead to decreasing income levels which would mean that the quantity of food may not change but the willingness to spend may reduce and demand might shift from luxury to affordable options. We have reduced that since food is an integral part of lifestyle especially working individuals who require good quality food at affordable prices. We have priced ourselves accordingly but maintaining the quality of our offering. 

Customer’s Response

The greatest joy is when customers send us or tag us in pictures with the food. I’m sure every restaurateur says this, but there is no other joy than knowing that you contributed in making someone happy with your food.

Marketing Strategy:

We are constantly trying to keep the brand very personal and relatable and not at all commercial with a lot of attention to detail. Letting our food and the experience market itself. Creating content the customer can engage with including the social media content which includes memes between our brand illustrations reflecting everyone’s daily struggle and common love for food.

Expansion Plans

We are concentrating on Gurgaon right now and will be expanding our offerings to Delhi. We are also looking into QSR format for the brand. We have few concepts in the pipeline in QSR format and working on R&D. One of them is revolved around meal boxes with an interesting twist.

The whole world is shifting from offline to online. Customers now prefer ordering a delightful meal at home by just a few clicks. There is huge potential in the online food ordering business as this particular niche is predicted to see an annual growth of 3.5 per cent for the next 5 years.

Now, if you are planning to hop on the bandwagon by shaping your own future and starting an online food ordering business, there are a lot of factors that will determine the success or failure of your venture. Some important factors to consider include an excellently designed website and a well-planned marketing strategy. Here is a stepwise guide on how to start an online food ordering business.

Search online: The first and the most obvious step before starting an online food ordering business is to search about it on the internet. The online world is full of blogs/researches/articles and opinions on necessary features, tips and business model of an online food ordering business. You will find “n” number of articles but you cannot rely on each one of them. It is very important to use industry specific keywords to narrow down your search. Start by typing “How to start an online food ordering business” on a search engine, the first few websites that appear in the search engine will be helpful to answer your queries. Also, make sure you stick to the information pertaining to the features of your website as you do not want to get carried away by all the information on internet.

Know your competitors well: Now that you have a basic idea of what you want to build, you cannot immediately start building a website. It is important to study the market and the competitor against whom you are going to launch an online food ordering website. Understanding which websites customer mostly rely on to order food and examining the features of the competitor’s website are first few steps to analyze the market before you hop in. Every website lacks some feature, you need to get hold of that and plan your business around it if you want the customer to shift to your website.

Be Clear Who Your Customers are: Though it’s true that the world becomes your playground when you start an online business, you also have to keep in mind the major audience. Keeping them in mind will also enable you to decide the important features like the language and the currency. A lot of things depend on the market you are going to launch your website in and helps you precisely decide the features of your website and know which kind of customer you are catering to.

Buy a domain name: You would have decided a name for your business while going through the above steps. Make sure you keep the domain name catchy and interesting so that it is easier for people to remember. Go to appropriate domain registering websites and find the name which interests you the most and check its availability. Once you find a suitable name, go ahead and register it.

Select the right business model: Though you have decided to leap into the business of online food ordering, it is very important that you clearly define the parameters of your business. Stating exactly how your business process is going to work is very important to avoid any kind of confusion. Food ordering business owners can choose from the aggregator model and the delivery model. The basic difference between them is: - Aggregator solely focuses on managing food ordering.The Delivery Model requires the website owner to handle delivery too.

Finalize on the revenue model: Defining the source of revenue beforehand is as important as defining the business process. How will the online business earn? What will be the primary source of revenue? These should be the most important questions that should pop up your mind. Usually, for an online food ordering business, commissions from restaurants are the primary source of money, followed by premium advertising service and, in some cases, delivery charges.

Connect with restaurants to ensure a few tie-ups before launch: While building a roadmap for your online food ordering business, make sure you try to make some contact with the restaurants and leverage the relationship. Connect with Restaurant owner(s) to see what their biggest problem is, try and solve the problem by your website’s features. You should have a good number of restaurants before you launch the website.

Start planning the website: By now, you must have a clear picture in your head and know what all customer and seller centric features you would need. Proceed with planning the layout of your website according to the information that you have gathered. Jot it down on a sheet, and try to visualize how the website should look from the customer, seller and admin perspectives.

Start pre-promotion before it gets live: Before the launch of the website, makesure the targeted audience are inquisitive. The curiosity of the audience to know what is coming up will help the brand become successful. The best way to do it is to start a social media channel and create a tagline to entice the customer. “Coming soon” the way you promote yourself before the launch highly affects the success rate of the website.

When the site is live- Start promotions to get more users: Launching your website is not the culmination of your business efforts, for it is just the beginning. There are other things which you need to take care of, things like strategizing a marketing technique to gain maximum customers. The way the website is advertised on different platforms will help determine the amount of traffic on the website. The best and affordable way to market your business is through social media as it has a large audience whose attention you can gain easily.
 

About The Author:

Ankush works as a senior digital marketer with India’s top rated web design development company FATbit Technologies. His expertise lies in search engine optimization, paid media marketing and formulating marketing plan for business of a number of industries. He likes to contribute on various topics that include digital media marketing, ecommerce and news related to ecosystem. Connect with him at below profiles:

https://www.fatbit.com/

https://twitter.com/ankushmahajann

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankush-mahajan-b37a4737/

What was the whole idea starting FooDrool?

The whole idea behind FooDrool is to give high quality food from selected high-end restaurants and hotels. Initially, 5 star hotels couldn't digest the idea of their food getting delivered from their properties. It was also very difficult for us to convince them as we were not from the specific industry background. There are so many delivery places and apps that are delivering food which are not at all in par with the quality. My own experience of receiving wrong food at around 2 am led to the beginning of FooDrool.

How was the investment done? Are there any plans to raise funds?

We started our journey with a modest capital of Rs 40 Lakhs. We are a bootstrap venture till date but yes, FooDrool is looking for funding.

Since, this is first of its kind concept where you have partnered with 5 star restaurants to deliver food. How difficult it was to get them on board?

We approached all 5-star hotels in Delhi. They were unable to digest the fact they would deliver food like any other restaurants in town. Initially we did a lot of meetings with almost every hotel in the city and it was very difficult for us to convince them to open up to the idea of delivering food from their properties. Also, being new in this industry they were reluctant on trusting us. But with time, things started taking shape into our vision.

5 star dining is all about experience. How are you bridging that gap in the delivery model?

There is no doubt that 5 star restaurants provide you a lavish experience with the quality of the food which is impeccable. They have a very loyal customer base who does want to have the same food at their home as well. Due to the traffic scene or busy schedule of work, people are sometimes reluctant to dress up and travel till that place; they want food at the comfort of their home. That’s how; we are providing the luscious food from their favourite restaurants at the comfort of their place.

Who are some of your restaurant partners? And, what are the average order you get and the ticket size?

We are partnered with high end restaurants of Delhi NCR namely Vivanta By Taj, Jaypee Siddharth, Crowne Plaza- Rohini, The Lalit, Fio, Punjab Grill, Dhaba By Claridges amongst others. Our average bill or order has to be around Rs 1,500.

As you are delivering food up to a radius of 12 kilometres, unlike other food delivery companies, which are restricted to just 5 to 7 kilometers. How is the packaging done so that the food quality doesn’t get spoilt?

The packaging is done by the respective hotel/restaurant. We want the branding of restaurant to be there on the packaging. Also, we check the packing material used by the restaurant before so that it meets the standard.

To keep the food fresh and warm for a delivery up to 12 kms, we have imported delivery bags which have built-in heaters in them. This ensures that when the food reaches to the customer, it is still warm and the quality is maintained.

How many delivery boys are there in your network and how do you bring them on board?

We have a network of 25-30 delivery boys. Before getting them on board, we do our reference checks and police verifications. We ensure that the delivery boys are polite and well mannered.

They are then trained on how to use our delivery boy application and how to behave with the customers. They are then equipped with delivery bags and smartphones which help them in deliveries.

In terms of trends, What is your view happening in 2017?

The start of 2017 has been slow due to demonetization. But we expect that in next 2-3 months as things get normal, we will see a good uptrend in food delivery. Also, moving to digital payments will be good for our business.

What is your plan expanding FooDrool to other cities?

Yes, the next city we are planning to expand is in Mumbai by September 2017. Later, we would like to explore the market of Bangalore and Kolkata. 

What was the idea behind launching both delivery outfits?

We realized there are a large demand for delivery and the scarcity for good comfort Asian Food. Our focus is on emphasizing the experience of food delivery and extending it towards a complete brand.

Why Asian Cuisine? You could have opened an Italian delivering unit aswell.

Asian food has a large popularity and is well understood by us. Since, there haven’t been any places that cater in the same capacity as us, it was our calling.With Italian food, it’s unexplored territory!

As you are focusing on delivery. How do you see this trend catching up the space?

It’s gone crazy over the last four years. When we started out, there were numerous brands launching delivery units, of which none were dedicated to Pan Asian cuisine. We were the first. The trend is catching up fast as lot more focus is been given on packaging and presentation. The delivery of food involves packaging and providing a variety of culinary options to customers primarily in their homes, workplaces, or at their desired locations. We invested far more on marketing to ensure our product an identity from our kitchen to your table.

In terms of orders what is your numbers from both delivery?

As a group we take about 250 orders a day from both Asian Haus and Sushi Haus.

We see that you have kept your menu simple focusing on contemporary Pan Asian Cuisine. How have you selected the right menu and offering?

We realized that within Asian cuisine, Chinese & Thai were most popular. Keeping this in mind, we slowly introduced dishes from other less explored cuisines to develop the Indian palette.

What are different challenges involved running a Asian and Japanese delivery Unit?

Ingredients are key to preparing an authentic Japanese experience. And as this is the delivery process. Traffic can be a key deterrent to the business. Lots of things can occur during this timeframe - uncertain traffics, accidents, so delivery is definitely challenging.Another challenge is generating visibility and recognition. Since, we are exclusive to being a delivery company most people order from us based on the reference of someone. So it’s a slow process as it takes a little longer for the brand to get known.

How about sourcing the raw materials?

A lot of the raw materials required are available in Delhi. Supply does end at times and we can’t do much about till new stock arrives. We deal with vendors who import these raw material from Thailand and Japan majorly. Sourcing is a lot easier in Delhi as it’s the capital.

Talk to us about your new concept ‘Chef @Home’.

Chef@Home is a convenient and fun concept. Usually people that have small gatherings of 20-30 people find it difficult to get a professional caterer and if they do it’s usually at a hefty price. In our Chef@Home concept, the chef would come to your home with all necessary ingredients, cook in your own kitchen and serves on the dining table. The impression and experience is not only affordable but tends to be quite premium.

As it almost takes an hour of delivery. What are you doing to keep the food delivered fresh to the customers?

At Asian Haus and Sushi Haus, we prep well in advance, and we cook when we get the order. The food is prepared fresh right there and then to ensure its piping hot during the packaging process. Our packaging system is quite extensive for home delivery - we seal the food in air tight food grade containers, then into corrugated boxes, then into small heat insulated bags and final into a large insulated bag .

Going forward...what is your expansion plan?

By early next year Asian Haus and Sushi Haus will be expanding to other major cities. We will also be opening two new brands focused on North and South Indian cuisine. Eventually, we will incorporate all of these cuisines within the catering arm of the group. 

Food trends in India are continuously changing with change in eating habits of the ever demanding consumers and the new concepts heating up the million dollar food service industry. From going to a restaurant over dinner or lunch, people today look out for delivery and getting their favourite food delivered to their doorstep. Seeking this opportunity not only the aggregators or delivery players who started this trend is betting big on this model but restaurants and food players are also eyeing this as the next ground to invest in.

Why Delivery?

For us our biz delivery is an opportunity to cater to a biz or customer for different needs. QSR remains a fast turnaround business and this business depends on quick service, shares Tanmay Kumar, CFO, Burger King India which has 15 per cent of the businesses coming from online ordering. For brands like Burger King and other players in the same space the key to their successes remain high traffic zone that’s how the biz is constructed. Now that many people want their food at their offices or home at ease, this is an opportunity which the QSR is leveraging and therefore for a QSR it’s an add on and additional opportunity as compared to the core biz.

Similarly, Raymond Andrews, Founder- Biryani Blues who started 3 years back serving the Hyderabadi Biryani wanted to take on the market- the office market where finger food was only options in meetings and team gathering. “We knew that this segment was available for the product and Biryani could be the easiest as it is non messy. It also reaches fast and that’s how we started. We are now about 10 stores in Delhi-NCR,” says Andrews who has 65 per cent of his businesses coming from delivery.

Likewise, InnerChef- a kitchen in the cloud kind of model has 100 per cent of the business coming from delivery either serves its foods or work as an aggregator by partnering with home chefs in the region. “When I set up my kitchen I do not look for a high traffic space ppaying the 1/10 of the space all restaurants are looking for and therefore I can use the full space for kitchens, larger space do more products and pass on efficiency to consumers and therefore we become more cost effective when I deliver the product to consumers,” adds Rajesh Sawhney, Co-Founder- Innerchef

The start-up also aggregate hyper locally especially in the category of home chefs. “80 per cent our biz is ours food and 20 per cent is the home chefs,” adds Sawhney.

Challenges involved

Delivery businesses may look as a lucrative space because of the attention it has gained in last two years from the investor’s diasporas, but apart from the glittery side the business involve lots of challenges both in the front and back end. Riding on logistic, the segment needs lots of backend support. As of now there is no delivery structure. There are few hyperlocal players and delivery aggregators doing deliveries for restaurants but, unfortunately the restaurant peaks happens on the same day and on the same time for all restaurants. Hence, the issue remains with the peak time orders and deliveries.

“In India Infrastructure is not ready and none of the POS are ready to integrate with this technology and it’s not seamless and the ecosystem is not evolved and other is the cost as there is very low margin,” points Andrews who is focusing on building Biryani Blues a delivery chain. “While we have backend in place, we keep on building restaurant. We continue to focus on mobile app, push deliveries,” adds Andrews.

The other Challenges which a brand or the restaurant faces is the convenience of the food delivered fresh with no error in the bill. Generally food is consumed differently with the type of offering one has. Large part of consumption tends to happened during certain part of the day. Therefore, the whole challenge is to get the right economics. “Quick delivery, good service and fresh food is what customers look for,” adds Kumar.

And, we can say that as a trend it’s an evolution and all restaurant biz is going through the exciting phase of the aggregators. It’s all about the right metrics!

In the last few months, food-tech economy has seen several ups and downs coming down the lane. From players shutting their doors after quick expansion to masters leading the tech race, food-tech players have witnessed it all.

Swiggy, India’s leading online food ordering and delivery platform, which has grown three folds in last two years, has brought many leading restaurants on its platform to deliver food.

Recently it has tied up with popular international QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) chain, Pizza Hut to offer the full menu service from the restaurant’s 40 outlets in Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.

In the coming weeks, additional Pizza Hut branches in the 7 cities Swiggy is operational in (except Chennai) will also come on board, taking the total count to 120 live Pizza Hut outlets on Swiggy’s platform.

Speaking on the strategic partnership, Unnat Varma, MD - Indian Subcontinent, Pizza Hut said, “We are focused on offering a delightful customer experience on the basis of enhanced food variety, easy ordering and delivery parameters. With the growing prominence of tech enabled food solutions, we are confident that Swiggy will offer the same level of commitment in delivering exceptional quality to our customers.” 

Here are few pointers which make Swiggy an apt platform for quick and reliable delivery:

1) Marketing on choice: Swiggy is a continuous choice of customers for consistently expanding choices on its platform. Apart from its own range of local restaurant partners, it has tied up with global chains like Burger King, Di Bella Coffee and adding other excitement Pizza Hut.

2) Catering on seamless delivery: Pizza Hut which was one of the few global brands to launch the Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD) model in India will leverage Swiggy’s deeply-entrenched and seamless delivery service to reach out to a larger customer base. Swiggy’s robust technology and owned delivery fleet will ensure that the superior customer experience offered by the international brandstays intact.

3) Creating a ‘foodgasmic’ experience: With leading international QSR chains coming on board Swiggy is testimony to the rapid rise of food delivery as a market-defining consumer habit. The growing appetite among Indians for a wider choice, convenience of delivery and a seamless experience from restaurant to plate is opening a new avenue for brands looking at growing rapidly and enhancing their customer base.

4) Strong market presence: With presence in 8 cities across the country, Swiggy is operating in more than 100 neighborhoods with over 4000 delivery contractors.  Pizza Hut can boost on these channels to reach to maximum number of orders.

Speaking on the partnership, Nandan Reddy, Co-Founder, Swiggy said, “We are excited about our association with a popular consumer brand such as Pizza Hut. We are constantly working on increasing the choices for our customer. This also validates the capabilities we have built to become reliable partners who truly enable the delivery businesses of global brands”.

Talking about 2015 alone, there were about 50 deals making a total of about $200 million investments.

With this uncertain growth driving the US$13.56 billion Indian food industry and growing at a rate of 17 per cent per annum, these companies are getting investors’ attention by raising funds for strengthening their team and expansion in the country.

The money guzzlers

Investment thrust in food start-ups has witnessed a rapid growth in last two years. Over 100 companies got funded from top investors in the country, making 2015 the year of food investments. According to advisory firm Grant Thornton, investment values increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 57 per cent between 2011 and 2015, while investment volumes increased at a CAGR of over 62 per cent.

Bengaluru based Swiggy, a food ordering and delivery platform has grown over 20 times in the last few months. This online food delivery model has witnessed continuous growth in orders from its inception, which has assisted them to expand to other cities.

“After analysing the consumer landscape in India, it  became clear to us that Swiggy as a food delivery company  is best positioned to win, given their focus, execution, and long-term vision,” said Michael Chou, Partner at Harmony Partners. “Their growth is very strong and they provide much better experience to customers and restaurants (Two key stakeholders in the ecosystem). We are very excited to partner them and help broaden their lead.”

On the other hand, Mumbai based HolaChef has so far raised  3.4 MN by Anand Lunia (India Quotient) in January 2015, Kalaari Capital in June 2015, Ratan Tata in September 2015 and a few angel investors led by Kashyap Deorah.

“In food technology business, scale is the key. However, the core idea that led to Holachef’s existence is the personal touch of a chef,” shared Saurabh Saxena, Co- Founder, HolaChef.

Overcoming challenges

Major challenges for such start-ups are standardisation and availability of fresh supply.  As the model is cashing on the delivery space, poor infrastructure and traffic conditions pose a problem, adding limited shelf life of the product and varying taste preference of a diverse audience.

“We are trying to manage these issues using technology and reliance on historical data to predict demand for a certain taste or recipe, added Saxena who delivers 2500+ orders daily to locals of Mumbai and Pune.

Another major challenge hitting this industry that led to the closure of many start-ups is the popular belief that food ordered from restaurant is unhealthy. It’s a big mental block that people have.

“ZuperMeal connects homemakers who love to cook, with consumers who like healthy and tasty home-cooked food. We get the freshly cooked food picked up and delivered through a network of delivery boys, and also do the payments settlement between the consumers and providers, shared Pallavi Saxena, Co-founder ZuperMeal, which is backed by Sanjeev Kapoor.

Scaling on variety

As this sector is giving customers’ a wholesome choice of wide variety of food, these start-ups are luring them with exotic delicacies. Recently, Gurgaon based InnerChef, which serves quick ready to eat meals has  acquired Flavour Labs, a food truck in Gurgaon and EatOnGo, an  on-demand meal services in Bengaluru. “These acquisitions will help extend InnerChef’s   offerings amid two of the fastest growing markets in India: NCR and Bengaluru. We are also acquiring awesome talent who share our passion for food and technology. We are on a high growth path and excited about building India’s biggest food tech platform, “shared Rajesh Sawhney, Co- Founder, InnerChef.

Seeing a great opportunity in centralised kitchen segment, Holachef is on another ride to enter the space.

“The centralised kitchen facility is thus an opportunity for our chefs to scale.  Because of this change, we have been able to extend our service hours (now we deliver from 9:00 am to 11:30 pm) and more categories (we have added breakfast and evening snacks recently),” added Saxena who is planning to replicate the same model in other cities. “For now, we will focus on consolidating operations in Mumbai and Pune. Then, we plan to expand to at least 2 more cities by end 2016,” elaborated Saxena.

Hence, we can say that Food-tech is much more than online ordering and delivery of food. There is a lot that can be done to bring technology in all aspects of food - from raw material supply to order management and delivery management. Today these players have started tackling this space diligently. . It will take some assumptions, more of innovation and technology to organise this large space and bring in unprecedented level of efficiency in the entire food-space.

Please share your entrepreneurial journey and what led to the birth of your brand?

The trio Hemal (Desai), Harsh (Vardhan) and me were friends over a decade. Passionate foodies and weekend chefs brings a unique flavour to the palate called Cook’dIn. Motivated thought empowering people made us start Cook’dIn as a catalyst and facilitator. Cook’dIn creates a primary/secondary revenue stream for homemakers and low income groups for home-cooked food. It is a convergence platform, which aspires to be a worldwide phenomenon, truly empowering individuals on what they cook/eat, when they cook/eat, where they cook/eat and also reducing the cost of what they cook/eat. 

What are the challenges in growing your business i.e. maintaining standards, brand integrity, customer experience etc and how have you met these challenges?

We have planned all the challenges for the road ahead. This plan includes brand building, health and hygiene standards, customer experience etc. We are also striving to achieve applicable ISO standards and FSSAI (which is yet not applicable on home cooked meal), within next 12 months.

Do you have a growth targets for the next few years and can you reveal any strategy to achieve this?

To start with we are eyeing a potential serviceable customer base of 1.1 lakhs, out of the targetable 4.4 lakh households. Home chefs, who are registered on Cook'dIn have a huge marketplace to cater as there are not many restrictions on home chefs they continue to remain their own bosses. The yearning in urban households for ‘Ghar ka Khana’ is what spurred the idea of Cook’dIn.

We expect to add Tier II city by the end of third or beginning of fourth quarter in our operations. The target is to be able to cover 7-8 cities by the end of three years. We have prepared this business model with in depth market research for over nine months from the beginning of 2015. 

Do you change your menu daily? What all is required in designing menu?

The menu is driven by home chefs, who desire to cook as per consumer’s want. The trend analysis is based on feedback provided to home chefs to make suitable changes.

Where would you like to see your brand in the next five years?

We are expecting to cover all cities, targeting mainly in India by fifth year of operation. At the same time we would have established beach heads in cities like Europe, S.E. Asia, Middle East and Latin America. We have already done in depth market research for North American market and will take appropriate steps.

As we have seen lots of chef-driven start-ups in 2014-2015. What makes you unique from them?

Our USP is ‘Home Chefs’. We are planning to bring amazing variety of cuisines on board, both Indian and Global. Cook’dIn is a ‘convergence platform’ for home chefs and consumers, from different parts of India and world.

Our ‘free market approach’, sets us apart from others. There are other critical aspects to our business model, which makes us unique i.e. Logarithm based Food Allergy match with meal ingredient, low price and high quality meal delivered at your food step, average meal price for a home delivered meal is Rs.480; we also expect to have our average price in vicinity of Rs. 250 and many more. 

Tell us about your journey to become an entrepreneur?

EasyKhaana was founded by my friend Vishrut Gawri and me. We were childhood friends and the journey of this new partnership came to our mind while sipping beer on 1st April 2015. I had an idea of starting a table reservation company and shared the same idea with Vishrut, who's instant reaction was let’s do it and boom- it gave birth to our first venture together as EasyTables.

We got the domain, setup in the office and a small team in less than a month and were ready to go. But, as we got deeper into what we were doing, we realized the problem and our model reworked. We tried becoming a food portal and tied up with over 1500 plus restaurants in Delhi NCR.

The second problem was how to get customers- we tried getting feedback from people and got to know that since we are not offering discount, people are not ordering from our website. After trying and hitting the target for almost six months, we evolved and EasyKhaana was incepted.

As you are serving wide variety of home cooked cuisines, how do you maintain the authenticity of your food?

Yes, we are offering a daily changing menu of home style food to the customers, but currently we are only sticking to basic Indian cuisine. We have expanded our operations post funding and shall be starting state wise cuisines in future.

Every dish has been standardized till the last pinch of salt and we are maintaining the authenticity of the dish prepared.

Who are your regular customers and who do you see as your target group?

Our target market is people who eat food (laughs)! But frankly, our primary market is people working in the IT parks, corporate hubs and students living in PGs. At the same time, our target is to get the meal box at every vendor just like any confectionary product.

How difficult is it for you to manage the logistic chains at your end?

Initially it was very difficult, but now we have developed a “Hub and Spoke” model over time. We are finding it convenient to process and manage the logistics chain. We have also partnered with a couple of logistic providers to facilitate smooth execution. For bulk orders, we have our own vans.

What is the unique marketing strategy at Easykhaana as we have number of home cooked food players today?

Our uniqueness is the quality and packaging of food, which we are offering. All our ingredients are handpicked and food is prepared keeping the hygiene factor on top priority.

According to you, what are the reasons start-ups are growing in 2016?

Shri Narendra Modi’s initiative “Startup India Standup India”, according to me is the reason why 2016 will see the emergence of number of new brains wanting to create something of their own. I feel Prime Minister has gone ahead and given a platform, a chance to people to innovate startup.

What is your expansion plans?

We are growing day by day and have plans to go pan India with centralized kitchens in every locality, so that we can serve more people quickly. We are also looking to enter the direct offline selling via stores/kiosks.

As companies like yours are a hot topic among food investors, when can we see funding at your end? Where can we see those funding being used?

We are using the funds to strengthen the logistics and technical infrastructure.

Chef Vipul Arora, with seven years of culinary experience in a number of upscale luxury hotels like Le meridian, Olive Bar and Kitchen (a Standalone restaurant called ‘Fat Ninja’) has gained expertise in a variety of international and Indian cuisines. He always wanted to fly high and create something of his own, breaking the monotony. Although his father is a businessman and his wife is a government school teacher, Vipul wanted to stand out in the crowd and then he decided to become a chef. However it wasn’t a cake walk for him as he had to convince his parents about making a career in this field.

How gourmet food is shaping the growth of Indian food industry?

Everybody knows about normal food, but gourmet food is easily available in Indian market. And, people understand gourmet food and quality as they have became more aware about it. Five years back one had to go to five star hotels to have gourmet food, but now it is easily available in delivery too. It is really growing fast in Indian market.

How different or difficult is to design menu for online?

In restaurants, you have kitchen close by and you can serve immediately. But in a delivery company the only difference is we cannot serve anything straight away to the customer and therefore we can’t do the same garnishing, plating or presentation like restaurants.

In delivery we have to keep in mind things like packaging, boxes and the food should be hot before it is delivered.

How do you maintain the authenticity of the food and the ingredients?

For food, we only use authentic ingredients as we understand the importance of ingredients in a dish rather than serving in a restaurant.  

What is your method of working, at the time when you get numerous orders?

Our whole menu is pre-planned and we don’t change menu daily unlike others. In weekend or weekdays we reassure order size.

According to you what are the top trends that will drive the industry in 2016?

Top trends will be hyper local delivery; everyone will try to enter into food delivery business as it is growing. Nobody wants to go at five stars, good food will be easily delivered and cooking oriented restaurants will be available.

What is the format of the food prepared at a base kitchen?

The format is same, which is happening in food industry. We have same certification, guidelines as of a five star restaurants.  

Loofre, table reservation platform defines the experience of dining in a new way. Loofre is helping restaurants to grow by increasing their footfall, wean the diners to discover the perfect table according to their mood, cuisine, budget, ambience and find the best restaurants nearby with best offers.

Tell us about your journey to become an entrepreneur?

It is  fun to be an entrepreneur, especially when you leave your settled senior level job. Life becomes more exciting and you become crisis management officer. Also, earn all aspect of life, right from admin to business development.

How is the response so far?

Responses are very positive, especially at merchant's end. They want to be a part of this technology solution. They tried our solution during New Year party and most of them were really satisfied. In short span of time, we have  800 merchants and stationed  across metros adding 250 merchants every month.

How is the technology helping restaurant business to grow?

Technology is not for growth of business, but to organise it.. We want merchants to let go the  pen paper model of reservation. Reservation needs to be with technology and data management. Next month, we will be launching a merchant mobile app, which will help in reservation to a next level.

How is Loofre bridging the gap?

We are giving a technology solution for reservation, so that the customers avaoid waiting time. . Restaurant can manage the customers and their database. Through our technology solution will ensure smarter and easier way for booking.

What competition you see from Zomato and others?

Zomato has great products and shows the world that Indian company can do wonders across the globe. They have launched the service and we think there is a requirement of three to four serious players for developing reservation habit.

How many partner restaurant you have presently?

We have 800 and by the end of March we will have 4000 plus merchants.

How quick is the process of booking?

We ensure customers can book within two minutes and confirmation in 15 min. As soon as  we  have the merchant app,  it will be a real time conformation.

What special offers you provide in festivals?

In month of February, we are giving two cups of cappuccino on every booking. On 14th February, we are giving special INR 500 Voucher with every reservation.

How has FRSH helped in development of food tech business in India?   Frsh doesn't believe in food-tech word. Frsh is a food company and we use a lot of technology at front and backend space to make eco-system efficient and give customers a superior experience.

What according to you was major draw point that made food-tech players rule the industry in 2015?

People have realized that ordering things online is actually an efficient way for both merchants and customers. And, as they were buying every other stuff online for few years,  food, most essential product on the earth, had  to be bought online one day. 2015 was the year when people started focusing on food. But delivering food online is totally different from other online delivery companies because of its perishable nature.

How  are players like you  helping Indian food industry in digital promotion?

Online food delivery start-ups are changing the way people eat now. With introduction of many online food delivery companies, ordering food has now become super easy. Lot of people who used to skip meals earlier due to hassle of going to restaurants or ordering food on phone have now started ordering online. Earlier Domino’s was the only company, which people trusted on both food and delivery. But, now there are so many options and people are ordering food more these days.

What is your plan in 2016? Expansion (no.of cities, targets)

Food is a very difficult business to scale. You add delivery to it and it becomes even tougher, especially from unit economics perspective. Many things like product type, vendors, whole supply-chain, kitchen processes, delivery time etc needs to be set right at the 1st place before thinking of scale.

We have solved our food part, but delivery needs to be worked upon before we think of scale. Three months back we expanded our operations to South Delhi and Noida, but now we are scaling operations back to Gurgaon. We realized 1 hour is too long a delivery time for on-demand Food Company. We will now add 2-3 more kitchens in Gurgaon (currently serve whole Gurgaon with single Kitchen) and reduce delivery time to 30 minutes from current 1 hour. We will now take another 2-3 months before thinking of expanding Frsh to other cities.  

What inspired you to come up with the global platform for home chefs?

When I was alone and hungry, living in Mumbai, I use to miss home food. I was getting bored of eating alone. I use to go to restaurants alone and that too not every day. Moreover I always felt that there are people who deserve a better platform to have food.  There is a lot more contribution that mothers’ can give in than just watching Saas bahu serials. Idea is to give all potential food lovers, who can display their creativity of preparing amazing you give them the platform, that push and then they do it for the love of it. There will be two kinds of people one is cooking and other is eating. 

Please tell us about Glutme?

Glutme is the global platform, essentially a place where we allow home chefs to register and convert their own kitchens into a micro restaurant.  They can invite people for food, can deliver from home and can have pickups at places where we can’t offer delivery.

We are just a platform, it is your (home chef) and it is somebody else who desires to have that food. We are not controlling anything as far as kitchen is concerned. The kitchen partner is the most powerful person on this platform. Glutme is also a platform where people can showcase their talent of food. We are a listing platform. May be a home chef is not a good chef, but a good host; he/she may love to meet people, have food talks, and can rejoice around food. I think food is one of the elements that assist to mingle, interact and express with people and understand their culture.

Are there any criteria for the order to be placed on your platform?

We are not going to be committed about creating orders for a particular quantity of food. You (home chef) just start your restaurant in your own way and we will just enable. We will verify, we will authenticate, we will even train you, there will be training sessions where we will be interacting with the home chef community, and we will give them certain set of guidance and confidence so we will just give them the direction. It is completely home chef’s view about whom to accept, whom to call, whom to have food with, what to cook and how much it should be priced. It is completely their view.

Why do you think that home chef will really get inspired to list them on your platform?

We are giving them the power. We have simplified the platform by taking care of payment gateways and ensuring hassle free technicalities. And, apart from the motive of earning money, we believe in the taste of food, we believe in the fact that the food has a creator and a creator needs to be acknowledged

When and where are you going to launch this platform?

It will be launched in March this year in Mumbai. It is just something that we are experimenting, going out, talking to people. We are starting with Mumbai because the city has many social elements than any other city. People in Mumbai are very transparent.

Presently we have 70 to 80 home chefs listed in Mumbai.

What are your future plans?

First we are starting from Mumbai, then we will be launching in south Delhi, Gurgaon and Bangalore. Within a year we are planning to start our operations across all major cities in India. We want to be in at least 8 cites in India. Internationally we are looking at Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand and may be two or three cities in South East Asia. Basically, we are looking at cities with cosmopolitan culture, where people come from different background and there is mix of cultures.

What is the investment you have done so far?

We have invested about Rs 30 lakhs initially raised through private investor. In the next round of funding, we are aiming to raise $ 1mn this year from seed fund.

Initially, we are not looking at profits from this platform. Our priority for the next two years is to get maximum amount of people on our platform from both food and kitchen side.

Chef Puneet Jain began his career from working in the kitchen team of Mc Donalds, The Oberoi hotels and now as co-founder of Buenos. Puneet decided to start Buenos when he moved back to Delhi and got an opportunity to meet Rohan and Vipul, who fortunately had same vision and shared similar interests. He wanted to utilise his culinary skills along with being part of the administration. His experience of working with five star hotels paid off really well and they together decided to start Bueno in the year 2012. He is of the view that being the co-founder at Buenos is like having a child and seeing it grow day by day, taking wrong and right decisions together and learning each day. Chef Puneet, believes that authenticity is the key ingredient to fine food. Born and brought up in New Delhi, Puneet is a Diploma holder in Hospitality & Tourism Management (Certified from AHLA - American Hotel & Lodging Association) from Rai University.

As you have worked for the Kitchen at Mc Donalds’s, how difficult it was it for you to work for a food tech player?

Yes, I have worked for many kitchens and it was same working for online too. But the only difficulty was that people in food tech were non educated, the training was a bit challenging and it was tough to make people understand what food tech is all about. And, it is a pack food, there is no dine in like restaurants only eat out. 

How gourmet food is shaping the growth of Indian food industry?

It is shaping in a good way as now people understand what this food is and how it is served. Now, people have started travelling, so they know the difference between a gourmet food and a normal food and what people are consuming these days.

How difficult is it to design a menu online?

The main challenge is to deliver the food to the customer in 30-45 minutes. So, the shelf line, presentation and quality of food have to be taken into consideration. For instance, while travelling, the food has to be warm. We have to make the menu according to it and that is the reason everything is not included in the menu. We also make the customer understand why everything is not included in the menu.

How do you maintain the authenticity of food and the ingredients?

The supply chain from the backend is managed by us (chefs) only. We also try to go outside to get the best of ingredients to add in the supply chain. We ensure to have everything in the supply chain before preparing the food.  

What is your method of working, at the time when you get numerous orders?

Every day we are prepared for 500 orders. Even after that we get some more orders, we are ready for it.

According to you what are the top trends that will drive the industry in 2016?

Gourmet food is something different that people has not tasted, but can be one of the top trends in 2016. New presentation of food, experimenting with new kinds of dishes and way of serving will also change.

What is the format of the food prepared at a base kitchen?

The base kitchen is made everything in a semi cook way and it is proportionate from our end. Whenever the order comes in the kitchen, it is delivered after assembling and re-garnishing.

What are the reasons that restaurants today are revamping their menu and design?

Because the online market has hit them very badly, the real estate cost is five times more than the online. So restaurateurs keep changing the menu and redesign the elements after every six months to get more customers. 

Based in Gurgaon, Freshler is a food delivery model with a unique menu. It has fusion of flavours combined with the freshest hand-picked ingredients with a wide range of refreshing salads, juicy burgers, fulfilling sandwiches and selected beverages that includes smoothies, shakes, mojitos, sodas, detox drinks and many more.

How did the idea of Freshler come to mind?

The idea to start Freshler came up in Argentina when I used to reside there.  It was my love for food that reminded us about broken experience in this segment and we started accordingly. Everyone is just selling food but nobody is trying to sell food experience. We are trying to fill that gap.

How is the response so far?

Response has been fantastic. We have achieved 30 per cent plus growth rate with very healthy response from the customers. Our ratings and feedback from customers speaks for itself. .

What is the operation process?

We are food on Demand Company delivering food to end consumer at their doorsteps. To facilitate the process, we work along well trained chefs and delivery boys powered by APP and website to take orders.

What range of items do you cater?

We deal in different verticals as we want to be a one stop solution for tasty food. We have verticals like salads/burgers/meals/pastas.

How difficult/easy was it toattract customers?

I must say very difficult, but yes we have been able to bring customers to our platform. We just don’t sell food but rather a complete experience.

Who are your target customers and what are your marketing strategies for them?

We are targeting corporate and reaching out through events and BTL activities.

What is your average footfall and target revenue?

We are doing approx. 50 orders a day and looking to take this figure to 100 at a healthy ticket value.

What is your expansion plans?

As of now we will be in Gurgaon and will try to expand Q2 (2016-17) onwards.

Founded in April 2015, by Rajesh Sawhney, Bal DiGhent (of the DiGhent cafe fame in Gurgaon) and Sanjeev Singhal (our CTO), InnerChef is one of the fastest growing food tech companies in India. Rajesh drives vision, strategy and growth at Innerchef. He is also the founder of GSF, India’s leading multi-city Tech-Start up Accelerator for the brightest tech start ups in India. InnerChef is built on two values- sharing food with loved ones and creating lasting happiness in every mouthful. InnerChef food is fresh, delicious and wholesome and also delivered to the doorstep in one hour delivery slots.

As you have recently got funded. Where can we see those investments being used?

Recently we have raised a pre-series A round of Rs 11cr ($1.66mn) from the leading investors from across the globe. InnerChef will use the funds to expand its footprint and launch 10 new kitchens across Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Additionally, InnerChef will also focus on building Indulge– a Hyper Local Desserts Marketplace that brings the finest desserts from home bakers and neighbourhood bakeries, across six cities within the next three months. The Indulge platform will aggregate 100,000 home bakers across 100 Indian cities within a year.

Why did you launch an online food ordering start-up only when there are many other hot segments as well attracting VC money?

It is a personal passion. Today food is a big category as the size of the market is very attractive; secondly food and mobile go well together and lastly huge possible disruption in the crowd model. In this disruption we can create a massive mega space in the food and that is why I enter in this business.

What is the model exactly in terms of procuring, preparing and delivering process?

We are food-tech Company which is made in our kitchen by professional trained chefs. People can order from our apps. We also have hyper local desserts marketplace which is made by the talented home bakers and neighbourhood bakeries. We are currently serving dessert lovers in South Delhi, Gurgaon and now in Bengaluru. Our vision is to take Indulge to 100 cities within a year with 100,000 home bakers on the platform.

There are similar start-ups in ready to eat food ordering from chefs. Any significant and substantial edge Innerchef has over them?

We are premium food experience company. Our unit value Rs 500 for two which is highest from all food start-ups. Our range from breakfast, salads, Panini, combos, mains, snacks, desserts, cakes and even 15 min meal which you can cook. We are also superior in quality; our desserts are unique in model and serving in Chennai, Bengaluru, Noida, South Delhi, Gurgaon. We also plan to 100 cities within a year with 100,000 home bakers on the platform.

Who are your target customers?

Our 70 per cent customers are women and also 70 per cent people are between the age group of 25-35 years. Also, globally aspiring Indian who gets the high quality food at affordable pricing.

You have launch hyperlocal online dessert marketplace called Indulge. How do you evaluate the pricing?

“Hyper Local Desserts Marketplace” is the finest desserts from home bakers and neighbourhood bakeries. Through Indulge, bakers will have access to technology platform and robust delivery infrastructure to reach millions of customers across India. Indulge features desserts priced between Rs. 120- 300+ taxes that serve 2-3 people. Soon it will have a wider range of desserts priced between Rs. 50–1000. The Indulge dessert line will include Lemon, Chocolate and Carrot cakes, Belgian Chocolate Brownie and two types of Muffins. In addition, Indulge will now feature exquisite range of desserts, both eggless and with eggs, by these talented bakers and bakeries.

What is the number of orders that you get presently?

We get 1000 orders on an average.

Tell us about both the models which Innerchef is offering to the customers?

InnerChef offers meals in two formats i.e. Ready-to-Eat and Ready-to-Cook. Ready-to-Eat is ready to be eaten up and Ready-to-Cook range is more suited for home-cooking where InnerChef does all the legwork right from washing, chopping and prepping all the ingredients, salad dressings, spreads, sauces etc. and one just has to simply follow the recipe.

What is your expansion plans?

As we are fastest growing company, started in Gurgaon and now expanding in different cities-Bengaluru, Chennai, South Delhi, Noida and by 31st March 2016 we will set up seven kitchen in the metros (Bombay, Delhi and Bengaluru). 

Launched in January 2015, Foodport is known for its versatile menu and for delivering fresh food. Foodport’s well-planned meals are not only tasty and healthy but are also high quality gourmet food at pocket-friendly prices. At present, they serve at select locations in Gurgaon.

What was the thought behind entering the food business?

One day, Aman (the co-founder) and I were speaking over the phone. We happened to ask what the other was having for lunch. Aman was having a boring thali from the office canteen, whereas I had access to a lavish gourmet meal. This stark difference in the lunch menu made both of us realize that there is a huge gap for people who’re looking for regular, healthy, inexpensive and nutritious meals. And “foodport” heartily fulfils that need.

Tell us about the 30 seconds ordering model?

You only need 30 seconds to place an order. Everything on the app and website has been kept simple. The app and website are user friendly, even non-tech savvy people can navigate both the platforms with ease. We’ve ensured that very minimum information is required to place an order and customers can complete their order in three taps.

You have an expert chef – D K Soni in your team. What is the revenue sharing model between you both?

Mr Soni is our founder advisor. So, there is no revenue sharing between us.  All others are in-house chefs who are employed by Foodport.

What makes Foodport different from other online brands?

Our USP is – price, quality and variety. We are also working on adding speed to the mix unlike a lot of online brands; we prepare our ‘product’ ourselves and also control the complete supply chain – from getting the order to delivering the order. No part of our business is outsourced. We can thus, control both quality and cost.

We are always on the lookout for avenues to innovate and improve our products and service, ensuring that we stay competitive in the growing food tech business.

How do you do the packaging to ensure that the food remains healthy?

We have packaging advisors on our team and we also conduct a lot of research before selecting the packaging material. Currently, we are working to develop bio-degradable packaging material.

Who are your target customers?

Primarily, the millennial and all working professionals are the target customers.

What money have you been funded recently?

We are a part of the GHV Accelerator program, working under the guidance and mentorship of Vikram Upadhyaya, Chief Evangelist and Mentor at GHV. We received a seed investment of US$ 100,000 as a part of GHV’s Acceleration program.

What is your expansion plan?

Currently, we are operating in Gurgaon. We are looking to expand to all the metropolitans, starting with Delhi and Noida in 2016.