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After witnessing a slew of exits over the last year and a half, restaurant discovery and food delivery firm Zomato is strengthening its senior management and leadership teams. The Gurgaon based firm has brought on board former MakeMyTrip executive Mohit Gupta as the CEO of its food delivery business.

Gupta, who was formerly COO - Online at the online travel portal, will be responsible for leading the growth and P&L (profit and loss) of Zomato’s food delivery business, a spokesperson for Zomato said. Gupta will report to Zomato’s Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal.

Food delivery has been one of the most crucial areas of growth for Zomato with the vertical contributing about 30% of the overall revenues as of FY18.

Currently, Mohit Kumar who was the co-founder of Runnr, heads global business for Zomato’s food ordering and delivery platform and will be responsible for building the firm’s logistics stack within that business.

Gupta`s appointment comes two months after the firm brought on board former GE executive Sameer Maheshwary as its CFO in May.

Zomato, which saw its co-founder Pankaj Chaddah quit the firm in March, has seen a slew of top-level management changes over the last 2 quarters. The firm is increasingly looking to strengthen its core teams and leadership to accelerate the growth of its business.

As part of this effort, Zomato has also hired Rohithari Rajan to lead its global advertising P&L even as former global advertising sales head Gaurav Gupta moved up the ladder taking on the mantle of COO at the firm, ET had reported in March.

The firm has also internally shifted existing global senior leaders to its headquarters in Gurgaon, as part of these efforts with Zomato’s country manager for South Africa and sales head for Portugal, Steven Murray, set to lead its India people development efforts while Oytun Calapover, Zomato’s country manager for Turkey and UAE taking on the mantle of growth for listings and reviews product in India.

In continuing with expanding its management leadership, food delivery firm Swiggy has appointed former P&G executive Vivek Sunder as first Chief Operating Officer. This is the first ever COO position at the Naspers and DST Global backed firm.

As COO of Swiggy, Sunder will be responsible for the company's operating units and be tasked with accelerating Swiggy’s mission of making the lives of consumers more convenient and hassle-free. The appointment is effective immediately.

“Swiggy’s strength lies in the quality and talent of our team, which has received an incredible boost with Vivek coming on board,” said Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy. “I am confident that his proven track record and extensive experience, coupled with a laser-focus on industry-leading operational practices will drive and extend Swiggy’s upward trajectory.”

With over 20 years of experience in the FMCG industry, Sunder has been working at the intersection of business and technology across several leadership roles and geographies at Procter & Gamble (P&G). In his most recent role as the Managing Director, P&G, East Africa, Sunder was instrumental in driving both top and bottom-line growth while expanding its market share and margins in a difficult macroeconomic climate.

At Swiggy, Sunder will be in-charge of developing and executing the firm's strategic direction and priorities to drive organizational growth and operational excellence.

The COO appointment comes shortly after Swiggy hired its first ever CFO in September last year. The firm has also been beefing up its leadership team across its new business vertical 'New Supply'.

The country’s leading food ordering and delivery platform, Swiggy, has announced the expansion of services to Nagpur for increasing the customer's restaurant choices and variety at the touch of a button.

Through its services, Swiggy will bring the choicest food options in the city coupled with the superior customer experience that the brand is known for. It includes a range of legendary eateries, trendy new cafes, ice cream parlors and national and international Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) across west Nagpur such as Dharampet, Bajaj Nagar and Pratap Nagar and others.

The food server has also planned to expand to other areas in the city starting with Sadar and Sitabuldi.

"After tremendous success in Mumbai and Pune, Nagpur is the third city in Maharashtra for Swiggy," said Srivats TS, vice president marketing at Swiggy.

He added, "The city has a distinctive food culture, and we're excited to bring our lightning-fast and hassle-free ordering and delivery service here, making these delicacies accessible to consumers wherever they are,”

Nagpur is widely known for its gastronomic offerings, ranging from the unique Saoji and Varhadi cuisines to the delicious Marathi-style street food.

Popular restaurants like Haldiram's, Bula's Kitchen, Aachari, Yello, Fuel Headquarters, The Breakfast Story, Reddy's Gokul Brindavan, Khichdiwala, Zaikart will now be available on Swiggy.

The company will also offer late night delivery, post 11 pm, in the city.

With over 250 of the best restaurants on the platform already, Swiggy provides foodies with the choicest food options in the city.

To ensure consumers have access to their favorite food, Swiggy will deliver from a wider radius of as much as six km.

Consumers can not only order from these restaurants without any restrictions on the minimum order value but can also track their orders live on the Swiggy app.

With the fastest food delivery service in the country, people from Nagpur will now have their food delivered quickly, along with multiple payment options.

Further, Swiggy provides city restaurants with the tools and technology to reach new customers.

In addition to driving order volumes through the platform, partner restaurants can strengthen their delivery services, brand equity, and recall value.

Swiggy has also launched a revamped owner app for restaurants that will allow them to efficiently manage the thousands of orders they receive, through real-time updates on their performance, consumer feedback, menu analysis and so on.

"We are delighted to partner with Swiggy as they expand to Nagpur, the third largest city in Maharashtra. As a trusted brand known for its traditional snacks, we believe in hygienic ways of cooking and providing the best food to our consumers. Swiggy's advanced technology and user-friendly platform will not only help us reach a larger customer base but also deliver food that is fresh and reaches the consumers on time. Looking forward to growing together and serving the city more efficiently," said Neeraj Agarwal, director, Haldiram's Nagpur.

"We would like to heartily congratulate Swiggy for commencing their operations in Nagpur and expanding their operations across Maharashtra. We believe this collaboration would help both our businesses as we reach more food lovers in the city. We are delighted to enter into this new venture with Swiggy and look forward to increasing our customer-base in Nagpur," added Prasanna Reddy, owner, Gokul Brindavan Restaurant.

Online food-ordering and delivery company Swiggy is planning to add medicines and hyperlocal groceries into its delivery menu to boost volume on its eponymous platform, three people aware of the development said.

“While several categories have been discussed, they may start with medicines and then move on to groceries,” one of the persons cited earlier said, adding that the Bengaluru-based company is aiming at improving cost optimisation and utilisation of its over-30,000-strong workforce during the lean hours, especially between 2 pm and 6 pm, through this diversification. “They plan to name this service ‘Dash’.” The Naspers-backed company will kickstart pilot operations for some of the new categories in the next few months, the person said.

Without sharing the details of the new development, a spokesperson for the company said, “At Swiggy, we’re continuously experimenting with ways in which we can enrich the lives of our consumers and partners by making it more convenient and hassle-free."

The development comes even as Swiggy is in talks to raise over $200 million from DST Global and hedge fund Coatue Management in a round that will see its valuation cross the $1-billion mark.

As per industry estimates, Swiggy leads the country’s online food-delivery business, handling over 7 million orders every month from around 35,000 restaurants listed on its platform in India. Last month, rival company Zomato claimed that it crossed the 5.5-million order mark across both India and the UAE markets.

The company’s plans to diversify its delivery offering and build a unified delivery platform comes even as Chinese investors in the market, including Meituan-Dianping, Didi Chuxing, and Alibaba (through its payment affiliate Ant Financial), which have backed Swiggy, Ola and Zomato, respectively, have been increasingly focusing on pushing up volumes as they look to recreate China’s on-demand delivery success story in India.

Swiggy’s strategy is clear from its investor Meituan-Dianping's China business model, which offers deliveries and services across a host of categories, including groceries, beauty salon, payments and ride-hailing, even as food remains its highest-frequency delivery category by volume and value. While food delivery is a burgeoning market in China, pegged at $37 billion, most key players including Alibaba-backed Ele.me and Tencent-backed Meituan offers diversified delivery offerings, with food being the main driver.

Online marketplace for food delivery Foodpanda has announced its partnership with digital payments platform PhonePe to enable seamless digital payments for all its users.

The partnership allows consumers to choose from several payment options such as PhonePe Wallet, UPI (Unified Payment Interface), Credit and Debit cards to pay for their food orders on Foodpanda.

"The partnership with PhonePe is in sync with the country's swift movement towards digital payments considering they are less time consuming, secured and reliable. Like this, we intend to enter several other partnerships in the future to create a robust food tech ecosystem for all our stakeholders," said Head of Partnerships and New Initiatives, Foodpanda, Anuj Sahai.

"At PhonePe, we are working to create a smooth and secure payment ecosystem that is conducive to all types of digital transactions be it using wallets, UPI or debit, and credit cards. Online food ordering is a fast-growing use case that has gained significant popularity among consumers. With this partnership with Foodpanda, PhonePe customers would be able to pay for their food orders faster," said Head- Business Development, PhonePe, Pradeep Dodle.

Food ordering and delivery firm Swiggy has announced its brand-new offering 'Swiggy Scheduled' feature on its delivery platform allowing users to plan and order their meals in advance.

With Swiggy Scheduled, users can now place their orders in slots of 30 minutes, a minimum of two hours and maximum of 48 hours in advance. The firm has not added any charges for this pre-ordering service. In case of cancellation, the users can do so on the app itself, any time before the order becomes live.

Swiggy's VP for Products, Anuj Rathi said, "At Swiggy, we are constantly looking for new and powerful ways to serve our consumers' every food need. Sometimes convenience means being able to plan ahead, especially when order delivery time is crucial. We've introduced Swiggy Scheduled for those who not only love a great meal but also want the assurance that it will reach their tables on time."

'Swiggy Scheduled' has already been launched in Hyderabad and Chennai, and would be rolled out in other cities by the end of March this year.

Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley’s research unit has pegged Zomato’s valuation at $2.5 billion in a report released last Thursday.

This is almost three times its valuation from its last funding round. The coverage on Zomato by the international brokerage firm was done while taking stock of the startup's publicly traded shareholder InfoEdge, which runs portals like Naukri.com and 99acres.com.

The online food delivery space has seen a resurgence after a few tough years on the back of user numbers growing rapidly and new players like UberEats and Ola, with its Foodpanda acquisition, jumping in to get a slice of the market. 

“Zomato will emerge as one of the most exciting startups from India in the medium to long term – and in the process, create substantial value for Info Edge shareholders. We have lowered our consolidated earnings estimates for financial year 2019 and 2020 as we incorporate deeper losses in the near term – but believe Zomato could be a multi-billion-dollar opportunity," shared the report.

The Morgan Stanley report pointed out that India's food delivery and takeaway market is about $19 billion including the unorganized segment and online penetration which is low at just about 5 per cent.

Globally, markets like the US, the UK, and Spain have seen online penetration rates go up as high as 45 per cent- 50 per cent. 

Zomato is expected to clock 34 million food delivery orders in India in the financial year 2018 up from about 11 million in the previous year. The share of deliveries by Zomato's own fleet is expected to rise to 20 per cent during the same period from 7 per cent a year ago. The report estimated revenue of $25 million from the overall food delivery business in financial year 2018.

Online kitchen and food tech venture FreshMenu announced the launch of its new membership programme, 'FreshClub', under which members will enjoy benefits like early access to exclusive dishes, free shipping, and discounted prices on most products.

Customers will also get a free 15-day trial period to experience FreshClub, beyond which they can continue the membership for a price of Rs 99 for three months, the company said in a release.

FreshMenu Chief Business and Technology Officer Pradeep Desai said “While the idea of memberships is not new, FreshMenu's control over the entire supply chain enables us to offer other unique benefits in the future.

FreshMenu an online restaurant that serves freshly-made, chef-cooked gourmet meals in a box, started in Bangalore and has expanded its services to Mumbai and Delhi-NCR.

A team of about 500, FreshMenu.com operates its own kitchens and runs its own delivery fleet to drive the entire process of food ordering.

FreshMenu received Series B funding in January 2016 of Rs 110 crore led by Zodius Capital with participation from existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partner and had raised USD 5 million in Series A round of funding in 2015 from Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Online food and grocery retailer Grofers claims it has tripled sales between February 2017 through November, 2017 and it is exiting this year at a revenue annual run rate of Rs.1000 crore.

Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder & CEO, Grofers said “At Grofers, sales tripled between February and November, 2017 and we are exiting this year at a revenue annual run rate of Rs.1000 crore. Our average daily order volumes are now at 25,000 - a near 200% jump from the start of the year. Our core category for the year remained staples. We successfully positioned ourselves as a monthly grocery stock-up destination with staples growing 5 times for us in 2017. Also, starting June this year, we maximized our investment in building the General Merchandise category, including a range of kitchen & bathroom utility essentials, plastic ware, cookware, apparels and more. We want to be a one-stop solution for everything our consumers need for their homes, from food FMCG, non-food FMCG to durables. Post GST, we grew our GMV by 60% over the previous quarter. Our new user acquisition rates also increased by near 50% in the month after GST implementation.

Also during the GST transition, Grofers partnered with major brands and suppliers to stock up extra in order to resolve any availability concerns for the customers. Further, during that period, a low supply in offline channels, proved to be a period of online grocery adoption, which in a way has helped the company to gain consumers.

Lately online food and grocery retail has been attracting a lot of interest from e-commerce giants including Amazon, who has received FDI approval to open its food only retail venture in India.

Dhindsa also said “The $500m online grocery industry (GMV) has been witnessing steady growth in 2017 and we have been the biggest driver of that growth. The Industry has since been growing at 30% q-o-q with Grofers projected to grow at 50% q-o-q, till the end of Q4 2017. We expect the market to grow to a consolidated GMV of $2 bn by 2019. We have grown 4x over the last year and continue to provide a unique value proposition that is built for Indian customers”.

Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy announced the launch of its platform in Ahmedabad.

After continued success in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, the online delivery service platform, Swiggy is now on an expansion spree in Ahmedabad.

These include a range of legendary eateries, trendy new cafes, multi-cuisine food trucks and national and international Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) across areas such as Prahladnagar, Vastrapur and Navrangpura. Around 300 of the city's restaurants are already available on the food ordering and delivery platform.

Srivats TS, vice president marketing at Swiggy said “In just three years, Swiggy has become the most reliable one-stop solution for consumers' food needs in the country. Given the love and passion for food among Amdavadis, this expansion is another step towards our vision of 'Changing the way India eats'. We have already partnered with over 300 of the best restaurants in the city, and look forward to bringing more variety on the platform and delighting our users with Swiggy's superior consumer experience. Amdavadis are passionate about their food, which is as rich and vibrant as the city itself. With Swiggy's lightning fast and hassle-free ordering and delivery service, food-lovers in the city can now enjoy food from the best neighbourhood restaurants with just a touch of a button”.

The platform will connect foodies with the choicest restaurant options, including over 300 of the best restaurants in the city, including Cafe Coffee Day, McDonalds, Zen Cafe, No Mad Baker, Melt in and Mad by Tomato's.

To ensure consumers have access to the best restaurants in the city, Swiggy will deliver from a wider radius of as much as six kms. Consumers can not only order from these restaurants without any restrictions on the minimum order value, but also track their orders live on the Swiggy app.

Swiggy provides city-restaurants with the tools and technology to reach new customers. In addition to driving order volumes through the platform, partner restaurants can strengthen their delivery services, brand equity and recall value by coming on to the online delivery platform.

Online restaurant guide and food ordering app Zomato launched its 'Zomato Gold' programme a paid subscription-based service in India. As part of the programme, subscribers will get access to complimentary food and drinks at over 1,200 top-rated restaurant partners, when they place an order.

Service which was launched in the UAE and Portugal earlier this year will be available at an inaugural price of Rs 299 (3-months) and Rs 999 (12-months).

Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said “We are super excited to bring Zomato Gold to India, and are sure our users, as well as restaurant partners, are both going to find this hugely beneficial. To start with, restaurants and bars across Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore have been added and 'Gold' will be extended to other Indian cities over the next few weeks. Other user subscription offering, Zomato Treats has already crossed over 60,000 subscribing members”.

Bite Club, the online food player which has tied up with home chefs to serve home like foods in Gurgaon and South Delhi is targeting to deliver 1200-1500 orders by August-September.

Started in 2014, Bite Club is a food-tech-logistics player based in Gurgaon, targeting at delivering high quality home cooked meals on the table.

It is presently getting its order on both mobile and web with a daily changing menu.

“We are getting 800 meals in a day, both lunch and dinner (combine) and are targeting at getting over 1200-1500 meals in next one and half months,” shared Prateek Agarwal, Co-Founder, Bite Club.

Backed by Powai Lake Ventures, the group has meals, desserts, and drinks options available from the kitchens of home chefs, recipe bloggers, ex- restaurateurs and professional chefs.

After two established venues in the US, and six more in progress, Classic Rock Coffee Co (CRCC), the high end classic rock music themed coffee shop, is all set to open its first outlet in India.

The coffee shop will be opening its first outlet on 16th May in Pune.

“After venturing into the F&B business, through my own company 'FoodJockeys', I was looking at bringing American F&B franchises to India. During that time, I came across Classic Rock Coffee Co, and found out that they were looking at opening various CRCC franchises around the world. I wrote to them and after various evaluations, background checks and finance checks, we became the Master Franchisee of Classic Rock Coffee Co here in India, shared, Avinash Agarwal, Master Franchisee for Classic Rock Coffee Co (India).

Located at Kalyani Nagar Pune, the coffee shop has a seating capacity of 200 people and total capacity of 400.

The group is also planning to open various CRCCs across the country, including cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

According to Agarwal, for the initial roll-out, COCO (company-owned company operated) is the most suitable model since we can control all the areas of the brand.