Hunger games: Battle for fast food delivery heats up

Zepto outpaced Blinkit and Swiggy by launching its quick food service, Zepto Cafe, in 2022

- Sowmya Ramasubramanian & Suneera Tandon

A war is brewing in online delivery, as fast food takes a new twist in India. After shaking up the retail market for online deliveries with their quick commerce services, Zomato's Blinkit and Swiggy recently launched standalone apps to deliver meals, snacks and beverages in 15-20 minutes.

Their quick commerce rival Zepto was the first off the mark among the three, starting a quick food delivery service called Zepto Cafe in 2022 and launching a standalone app for its food business in December last year.

In November, Bengaluru-based quick food delivery startup Swish raised $2 million from venture capital firm Accel and other investors. Swish was founded in August 2024.

The rush into online fast-food deliveries is expected to increase competition in the food ordering space, prompting regular food service companies to prepare items for shorter delivery timelines.

"Overall, quick food deliveries will elevate overall food delivery growth rates. However, the swift offtake in such orders may adversely impact beverages (and) dessert sales of large quick service (restaurant) chains that operate at 30-40-minute delivery cycles," said Karan Taurani, an analyst at Elara Securities.