Zepto launches 10-minute food delivery service 'Cafe' in Mumbai

Zepto, the buzzy 10-minute grocery delivery app, has started food delivery in Mumbai on its own app through an offering called 'Cafe', intensifying the battle in the quick commerce space.

Zepto, which queered the pitch in the online grocery space last year with its promise of delivering essentials in 10 minutes or less, now wants to do something similar with 'break time essentials.' This comes at a time when larger rivals such as Zomato, Swiggy and Ola are all testing 10-min food delivery.

Zepto is currently providing a free delivery on an order value of Rs 99. A quick glance of the app shows that the Mumbai-headquartered startup has tied up with restaurants such as Blue Tokai Coffee, Chaayos, Gurukripa snacks and Sassy Teaspoon. Some of the items being delivered in 10 minutes include tea, croissants, samosa and coffee.

"Let me be clear - 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 further added that the core of Zepto's business will remain grocery delivery and will not move away from that.

In its last round, Zepto raised $100 million in a round led by YC Continuity at a valuation of $570 million, within months of raising $60 million in its first institutional round. Nilam Ganenthiran, the President of Instacart, and Ravi Inukonda, a senior executive at DoorDash, also participated in the round.