On the road to recovery

The food delivery market is dominated by Swiggy and Zomato, sharing 85 percent of the total market between them, says the India Food Service Delivery Report 2021.

- Lipla Negi

India’s food delivery market is growing at a rate of 33 percent per annum and is expected to touch `93,600 crores (13 billion dollars) by 2023, despite an initial drop in sales over health and safety concerns in the wake of COVID-19. The findings are from ‘India Food Service Delivery Report 2021,’ a first-of-its-kind study that maps current and future foodservice delivery markets in the country.

While the pandemic initially led to a drastic 70 percent drop in online food delivery, especially from March 2020 to the end of 2020, many ‘better brands’ managed to recover 50 to 60 percent of their pre- COVID sales, eventually, according to the report. “There was also a trend for DIY food and cocktail kits from various restaurant chains. Many new cloud kitchens have come up during the pandemic increasing the choice for customers,” adds Samir Kuckreja, Founder & CEO, Tasanaya Hospitality, who has also worked on this report along with Jasper Reid, founder, IMM; and Peter Backman, a globally renowned food service professional.

On the road to recovery, both the aggregators and restaurants have worked together to deliver a safe dining experience. “Some of the measures implemented include temperature checks for kitchen and delivery staff, live streaming from restaurant kitchens, and strict COVID protocols being followed in the kitchens and by aggregator teams,” says Kuckreja.