The food delivery app market in India is brimming with possibilities. Though it suffered a minor slump in late 2016, the revenue in the Online Food Delivery segment is estimated at $7,120m in 2018. The food-technology sector is expected to touch at least $2.5 billion by 2021, according to a research by RedSeer Management. The online food delivery market is growing at a steady 15% quarter-on-quarter in terms of daily food orders. The market’s largest segment is Restaurant-to-Consumer Delivery with a market volume of S$6,629m in 2018.
Bengaluru-based Swiggy leads the stack with a 35%-38% market share, followed by Zomato at 25%-30%, according to RedSeer. UberEats, the food delivery business of cab major Uber Inc., which was already operational in the US, entered the segment in India last year. India’s online food ordering sector saw a strong growth rate in the number of daily orders, an average of 400,000 during the September quarter.
Here’s a list of top 10 food delivery apps in India that you can download on your smartphones or handheld devices.
- Foodpanda: One of the best performing restaurant search and delivery apps in India, Foodpanda operates 26,000 restaurants in 450 cities. It features a live tracking feature allowing you to see the location of your food. Foodpanda users can also set up a profile within the app which allows them to save multiple addresses and bookmark their favorite places they are most likely to order from.
- Zomato: Founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Bhardwaj, Zomato is one of the fastest restaurant searches and ordering services in India. Currently, Zomato operates in 23 countries, including India, Australia, and the United States. Zomato offers restaurant information such as scanned menus and photos sourced by local street teams, in addition to, user reviews and ratings. Zomato also provides cashless payment, online ordering, white-label apps, table reservation, and point-of-sale systems.
- Swiggy: Based out of Bengaluru, India, Swiggy was inspired by the thought of providing a complete food ordering and delivery solution from the nearby food outlets to the urban foodie. A single window for ordering from a wide range of restaurants, Swiggy has its own exclusive fleet of delivery personnel to pick up orders from restaurants and deliver it to customers. Having their own fleet gives them the flexibility to offer customers a no minimum order policy on any restaurant and accept online payments for all partner restaurants that we work with.
- FoodMingo: One of the most popular food delivery apps in India, FoodMingo operates in top Indian cities like Hyderabad, Pune, and Mumbai. The company was founded in 2012 by Pushpinder Singh. FoodMingo app allows customers to order food and book tables at restaurants and food joints. It also offers coupons and arrangements from its accomplice eateries in those urban communities. Customers of FoodMingo application can track their order status.
- TastyKhana: Founded in 2007 by Sachin Bharadwaj and Sheldon D’ Souza, TastyKhana is one of the hottest food ordering apps in India. Available on Android and iOS platforms, the app gives instant access to its database of over 7,000 restaurants across India. You can also create profiles, save restaurant locations and your earlier orders. You can choose to pay through net banking, cash on delivery or credit/debit card. TastyKhana was acquired by Foodpanda in 2014.
- UberEats: UberEats, the latest venture by Uber (one of the leading global app cab operators) uses its existing infrastructure to deliver food. Once you place an order, an Uber driver delivers it to your place.
- JustEat: Just Eat, one of the fast-growing food delivery apps in India, operates in 9 Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai. JustEat is known for its strong network, listing as many as 3,000 restaurants. You also get discounts for online payment or via various coupon codes. JustEat offers both online payment and casino delivery option.
- Freshmenu: Freshmenu, another well-known food delivery app, is available in limited metro cities and offers reasonably good food delivery service. They offer food from their kitchen itself and many people have appreciated them for their quality of food and delivery service. Though a newer player, Freshmenu is fast gaining popularity. The company has also started its own membership program called the FreshClub in which users get an exclusive menu to choose from and an extra 10% discount along with free delivery.
- Fasso’s: A brainchild of Kallol Banerjee and Jaydeep Barman, Fasso’s hit the market in 2011. The app is compatible with Windows Phones, Android and iPhones. Unlike other food ordering apps, apps, Faaso’s delivers food from their own kitchen. You can also customize your order in multiple ways to get the food made the way you like it. Also, the Fasso’ app allows users to track their order live when they are done with ordering. It is mostly used in Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, and Pune.
- Domino’s: Domino was one of the first companies in India to come up with a mobile-friendly food delivery app. The food delivery is compatible with Android, Windows Smartphones and iOS platforms. The best part about Dominos’ Pizza delivery app is that it allows users to apply coupons to their orders and also choose the mode of payment as per their convenience.
Read my earlier post on restaurant app trends to follow.
The food delivery or food technology app market is showing visible signs of growth. In August 2018, the country’s leading food-delivery platform, Swiggy acquired Mumbai-based Scootsy for an estimated ($7.3 million. Scootsy delivers food from premium eateries, and also other items like gifts and clothes. This is the second acquisition by four-year-old Swiggy and marks the 11th M&A deal in the food-delivery space in India since January 2017, data from startup tracker Tracxn showed.
The growth in 2018 is expected to continue at the same pace. Also, Ola, India’s largest taxi-hailing firm is planning to buy Foodpanda in 2019. Ola wants to invest $200 million into Foodpanda over the next few years. Assuming there is healthy competition among the food ordering brands, expect more pocket pinch, as price war continues to grow.
