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1441 Pizzeria, known for their unlimited toppings, cheese, and sauces on traditionally wood-fired pizzas, announced the launch of their first mobile app, available for iOS and Android.

This initiative of the brand is meant to create a value proposition for its customer base and to reach out to a wider range of customers.
 

With 13 outlets in their name across 4 cities, the app allows users to interact with the brand directly. Available to order in Fort, Kamala Mills, Prabhadevi, Andheri, Lokhandwala, Malad, Thane, in Bombay; Koregaon Park and Magarpatta in Pune;  JP Nagar in Bangalore, and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, the app has an extensive loyalty rewards programme.

“We’ve launched the new app with an objective of catering a larger audience. This route will also allow us to calculate our customer acquisition costs in a clearer and defined way that will help us with future marketing campaigns and strategies,” shared Partner Krishna Gupta by adding that as of now, they are looking to grow the brand presence from 13 outlets to 50 in the next 2-3 years.

In a digitally driven world, 1441 Pizzeria is primed to lead the way in the fast-casual sector. The app allows various modes of payment including cash on delivery, credit & debit cards and UPI.

Highlighting some of the Key Points:

• Cart Checkout: The app accepts all types of payment methods including cards, paytm and UPI.

• Improved user interface: Customers have easy access to their favourite woodfired pizzas and easy usage of the app.
• Offers:
  1. Loyalty Programme:  Free INR 1441* will be deposited into the loyalty wallet on App download*. It can be availed at dine-in, takeaways, and order in. This will be clubbed with lucrative offers and deals for all users.
  2. Discounts: For the first month, avail a discount of 50% on orders up to INR 100 that can be clubbed with the loyalty wallet.
  3. USP: The app offers a chance to make your own Pizza with unlimited toppings, cheese and 4 types of sauces.
  4. Benefits: The app offers its users' priority delivery, sneak-peaks to upcoming events/festivals at the outlets, and exclusive combos.

In order to enhance utility and convenience for its consumers, online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has announced that it is testing WhatsApp enterprise solution to ease its way to stay connected with customers.

"Swiggy will appear in WhatsApp chat interfaces on consumers' smartphones and will keep them abreast of their order status in real-time, providing seamless communications system," the food-delivering app said in a statement.

Consumers, however, will have a choice to opt out of Swiggy's WhatsApp services by replying with "STOP" on the chat-thread.

"With this new integration, Swiggy aims to further enhance utility and convenience for its consumers," the company added.

The online food delivery platform will continue to update customers who are not on WhatsApp via text messages.

As a part of testing, the service has been made available for some users and will be rolled out for all soon, Swiggy said.

In an effort to tap into the Rs 25,000 crore 'tax-free allowance' market, mobile wallet company Paytm has rolled out a 'food wallet' to replace the traditional meal voucher and provide tax-saving opportunities to corporate employees.

According to Paytm, this will help employers pass on food allowance to employees under the government-approved tax-redemption bracket.

The 'food wallet' will be available in the Paytm app, and the food allowance passed on to employees will be digital, eliminating risks of its loss or expiry.

The company said, "Paytm's food wallet comes with a unique interface where employees can see on real-time balance in the passbook and can locate the closest food outlet in the 'nearby' feature on the app. This wallet can be used at office cafeterias and also at a wide range of online and physical merchants, including small standalone outlets. The list includes KFC, Burger King, Zomato, Pizza Hut, Café Coffee Day and Big Bazaar, among others."

In addition to the ease and convenience, customers can also enjoy added benefits like exclusive deals, discounts and cashback.

Employers can instantly transfer money to the food wallets of employees based anywhere in the country with a click of a button, without any hassles of procuring, handling and distributing bulky coupons and cards.

This solution is already live at some corporate offices.

Kiran Vasireddy, Senior Vice President, Paytm, said, "Paytm food wallet will change traditional meal voucher space and will benefit all stakeholders — employers, employees and food retailers."

Zomato, the online restaurant search engine is planning to expand its reach to over 40 countries by the end of 2016.

"We will enter around 40 countries by end of 2016 by adding about 18 countries by the end of the next year," shared Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato.

The company currently has presence in 22 countries and provides in-depth information of over 1.4 million restaurants.

Zomato is looking to enter to countries like Europe, South East Asia and Latin America, as these are reasonably large size (markets) and many of them don't have a large enough player.

"We have already started looking for people in all these countries but launching in any country takes around 6 months. We always start with hiring the country manager first and in general it takes about three months to find the right person and then all other things become easy," added Goyal.

When asked if Zomato was also looking for taking inorganic route for future growth, Goyal said: "We are very ad-hoc when it comes to inorganic growth. We are not hunting for acquisitions. It will be mainly organic growth."

The CEO further said India and UAE have been profitable for a long time. The other markets that have become profitable are New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia, South Africa, Qatar and Lebanon.

Going forward Zomato is planning to restructure the company into two key business verticals -- Consumers and Enterprise.

"We are planing to gradually restructure Zomato into two business verticals -- 'Consumers' side of business which will have apps for consumers that is Zomato app and website, and 'Enterprise' which will have products that are being made for restaurants," he added.

On the enterprise side there will be white-label apps, table reservation software called book, payments product called cashless and point of sale called base, he said.

Zomato has so far raised total funding to $225 million from four investors - Info Edge, Sequoia India, Vy Capital and Temasek.

Founded in 2008, Zomato employs over 3,000 people across 22 countries. Available on web and mobile, it provides restaurant information such as menus, contact details, pictures and user reviews.