Zepto starts 10-min pilot for snack delivery in Mumbai, won't send food

CEO Aadit Palicha says delivery partners won't be at risk and will travel short distances.

Quick commerce delivery partner Zepto has begun a pilot for 10-minute delivery of snacks, saying it is not getting into food delivery.

"We launched the Zepto Cafe format as a pilot a few weeks ago, and we've seen an incredible response from customers. We're going to continue tweaking the model for quite some time so we can perfect the customer experience and unit economics before scaling," said Aadit Palicha, chief executive officer and cofounder of Zepto.

"Let me clarify that we are not doing food delivery. This is a Café format, with ready-to-drink coffee, chai, and packaged snacks (like biscuits and sandwiches). We don't want to get distracted from our core business by building a complex supply chain for food delivery, where it's difficult to control quality," he said in a statement.

Zepto, which was founded by Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra in 2020, last year raised $60 million at $255 million valuation last year from investors.

Zepto, to stand out in the food technology market, focuses on 10-minute grocery deliveries stored in dark stores within kilometres of their destination.

Palicha defended the 10 -minute model that Zepto has created in the grocery delivery segment saying that it is not risky for delivery agent. In response to a tweet by entrepreneur Anand Mahindra asking how delivery partners will be treated, Palicha said: "The avg [average] distance of a Zepto delivery is 1.8 km. To travel 1.8 km in 10 minutes, one has to drive at <15 kmph. That’s why Zepto has 3.1x lower accidents on avg [average] compared to a regular biker on the road."

Zepto will compete with Zomato, which recently said that it has started a pilot of 10-minute food delivery in Gurugram in Haryana.