"Our internal efficiency has now improved significantly'

Online food ordering platform Zomato has a lot to prove after its 2021 public listing. Driving profitability consistently, and ensuring the restaurant community is at ease with its policies, as well as boosting customer acquisition in a country which loves home-cooked food, while ensuring the well-being of its rider ecosystem.

- Suneera Tandon

In an interview at its headquarters in Gurugram, the chief executive of food delivery at Zomato, Rakesh Ranjan, talks at length about its plans to get customers to order more, competition in the ordering-in market, and chasing profitability. Edited excerpts:

Sunday's match would have been a big ordering-in occasion, but did the Indian team's loss dampen consumer mood?

You can clearly see on the basis of order volumes how well India is performing there is a very strong correlation. Of course, there are watch parties, people go out, and this is the first time that there is an event like this, where there was no fear of covid. Orders did not drop dramatically because people had committed themselves to watching the match. For example, when the first three wickets fell (when India was bowling), order volumes shot up. But towards the end, it was moderately less than what we thought it would be.

Earlier this year the m INTE management said in 10 years from now, Blinkit (quick commerce) will drive more value for shareholders than Zomato. Does that mean food delivery as a business will plateau?