Explained: How 10-Minute Food Delivery Services Are Competing in India?

From the emergence of quick commerce apps, the behaviour of Indian consumers have changed drastically. Be it any essential item including groceries or electronics among many, consumers are becoming more impulsive than ever before. In fact, food delivery platforms are promising to deliver freshly cooked food at customer’s doorsteps in just under 10 minutes.

Recently, companies including Zomato and Swiggy have rolled out their plans to offer quick food delivery. While Swiggy is partnering with restaurants from Starbucks Corp and McDonald’s Corp, Zomato’s Bistro and Zepto Cafe are relying on in-house kitchens to swiftly cook and assemble eatables.

‘Impulsive Buyers’

Karan Taurani, senior vice president at Elara Securities India Pvt said, “Quick commerce has changed consumers who have become more impulsive buyers.” These platforms “enhance user experience.”

Overview of online food delivery market in India

The value of India’s online food delivery market is set to double to $15 billion by March 2029, JM Financial said. These platforms have penetrated only 11% of the country’s total food consumption in 2023 as compared to 40% in China and 58% in the US.

Swapnil Potdukhe of JM Financial Ltd wrote, “Bistro’s within-10 minutes-delivery proposition should help the company better penetrate breakfast and evening snacks meal consumption.”

Zepto Cafe is adding 100 cafes a month clocking 30,000 orders a day, founder Aadit Palicha wrote on X.

Currently, Zepto faces stiff competition from Zomato’s Bistro, Swiggy’s Bolt, Dash by Ola Consumer and Magicpin’s MagicNOW. BigBasket is in the process of finalsiing the service.

Are there any dangers associated with it?

Shantanu Deshpande, founder of Bombay Shaving Company said in a Dec. 16 linkedin post, “Cook time 2 min, delivery time 8 min. A ‘qcom for food’ founder told me this and I lost my mind. We are suffering from the biggest epidemic of poor nutrition and unhealthy processed and ultra processed food which is high on palm oil and sugar.”

However, companies offering speedy delivery services assured customers that food quality won’t be compromised.

In an emailed response Zomato said, “At Bistro, we are not microwaving processed frozen food and sending it to our customers,” It added, “When you order from your nearest Bistro kitchen, we make dishes fresh by putting together ingredients that are prepared at a central kitchen.”

Shashank Shekhar Sharma of Zepto Cafe said food is prepared in “controlled environments to maintain quality” and “high hygiene standards are enforced at every stage—from sourcing to final delivery.”