Year ender 2024: After initial hiccups, 10-min food delivery makes a return

As the demand for convenience rises, instant food-delivery platforms that had shut down or scaled back operations in previous years witnessed renewed success in 2024. In this race, Ola Dash is the lat

India’s instant food delivery platforms have witnessed a revival this year, following the failure of similar initiatives by Swiggy and Zomato in 2023.

 

The initial attempts by these food aggregators, through Swiggy Express and Zomato Instant, promised 10-minute food delivery but faced operational challenges that led to their shutdown.

 

With the evolving landscape of the food delivery industry, these companies are now revisiting the idea of ultra-fast delivery, driven by advancements in technology, improved logistics, and changing customer demands for speed and convenience.

 

Quick or instant food delivery refers to delivering ready-to-eat meals, typically under 10 to 30 minutes.

 

Linking the rise of quick food delivery platforms to quick-commerce success, Satish Meena, founder, Datum Intelligence, an e-commerce consultancy firm, said: “Quick commerce proved to be something which could be executed and the customers have seen a superior experience. The same behavior is coming into food also and brands are now switching back to quick food delivery also.”

 

Within two months of its launch in October this year, Swiggy's Bolt, a 10-minute food delivery service, gained traction.

 

The service reportedly accounts for 5 per cent of its total food delivery orders. Bolt was initially launched in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune.

 

Another player Zepto Café, which entered the instant food delivery market in 2022, is rapidly scaling its operations. The platform handles 30,000 orders daily, according to a December 11 post by Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha on X.

 

"With over 100 cafés added monthly, we are on track for substantial growth by the end of 2024,” Shashank Shekhar Sharma, CXO of Zepto Café, told Business Standard. 

 

Currently, Zepto Café operates over 120 cafés and is expanding into cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune.

 

“By mid-2025, our goal is full integration across Zepto’s network, focusing on high-demand urban areas to solidify our position within the ecosystem,” Sharma added. 

 

Rivalling Swiggy Bolt and Zepto Café, Zomato’s Blinkit recently launched a standalone app, Bistro, to deliver ‘healthy drinks, snacks, and meals.’

 

Following the discontinuation of Zomato Instant, Bistro marks the company's second attempt to foray into the instant food delivery segment.  

 

Adding to the growing list of players in the market, Ola Consumer has marked its entry with the launch of Ola Dash.

 

The service is currently available in select areas of Bengaluru. Ola Dash was originally the company’s 10-minute grocery delivery service, which it shut down in 2022 within months of its launch.

 

While brands rush for a pie in the instant food delivery, investors and analysts point to a confluence of factors leading the change. “There has been a shift in consumer behaviour as they are willing to pay for this convenience and experiment with new brands,” said Meena. 

 

The rise in affordability coupled with changes in consumer behavioural patterns have led to the acceptability and desire to have quick food delivery platforms, said Parth Gandhi, founder, and CIO at Bombay Capital Management. He pointed out that the rise of such platforms is limited to specific cities with deeper pockets. 

 

India’s online food delivery market is expected to more than double to $15 billion by March 2029, according to a JM Financial report.

 

It added that platforms had penetrated only about 11 per cent of the country’s total food consumption in 2023, compared to countries like China and the US, which tapped a 40 per cent and 58 per cent portion respectively.  

 

“The normal food delivery business of Swiggy and Zomato is not growing very fast, it's saturating. The only way companies can increase the number of orders is making sure that these customers order more. It (quick food delivery) will make sure that the saturation problem which is there in food delivery gets solved,” Meena added.  

 

The blitzkrieg of quick commerce has seeped into the food delivery space. As delivery time crunches, Gandhi said, “The next level of competition will be on the breadth of offering. Platforms will move on to provide more logical offerings that are needed instantly, say medication and coffee.”

 

While Zepto Café plans to add 100 cafés each month and Bolt has currently expanded to 400 cities, other platforms are also catching up. Envisioning the future of instant food delivery, Gandhi added that the industry will consolidate (through buy-outs) to about three large players and a couple of small players. 

 

Sharing the company’s plans, Sharma said: “Zepto Café is committed to leading this (instant food delivery) evolution through AI-driven personalisation, sustainable packaging, and expanding into Tier-II and Tier-III cities. As preferences shift, our focus on quality, speed, and affordability will continue to shape how India enjoys food on the go."