Quick meals, high costs: inside India’s 10-minute food fight

For the past two months, entrepreneur Madhav Kasturia has enjoyed a smoother start to his mornings.

Every day, he places an order of upma or poha (typical Indian breakfast fare), along with a cup of coffee, through Zepto Cafe. His meal is delivered in just 15 minutes – well before his work day begins.

Zepto Cafe is Indian quick commerce unicorn Zepto’s latest offering, delivering snacks, coffee, and ready-to-eat meals within 10 to 15 minutes.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

“I have completely switched to Zepto Cafe over the past few weeks,” Kasturia tells Tech in Asia.

Zepto, one of India’s quick commerce pioneers, set a trend last year of 10- to 15-minute deliveries. This spurred industry food delivery giants like Swiggy and Zomato to follow suit.

Currently, Zepto Cafe handles 100,000 orders per day, shared Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha, while Swiggy’s Bolt service powers 5% of the firm’s overall food deliveries.

Analysts say this space could be an entirely new revenue stream for these companies. And the stakes are high: Zepto is looking to raise up to US$1 billion from its upcoming IPO.

But here’s the spicy question: What trade-offs do food delivery companies face when prioritizing speed? Ultra-fast delivery can compromise food freshness and variety, while platforms that launch their own private-label brands may create conflicts of interest with their restaurant partners.

The ingredients behind 10-minute delivery

Swiggy and Zomato have two separate models for quick food deliveries. First, they partner with existing restaurants to offer ultra-fast delivery of meals via their platforms Bolt and Quick, respectively.

Second – like the case with Zepto Cafe – they create their own private-label brands, namely Swiggy’s Snacc and Bistro, which is under Zomato’s quick commerce unit Blinkit.

Cold coffee ordered from Zepto Cafe and Swiggy’s Snacc / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

To evaluate these services, Tech in Asia recently ordered cold coffee from both Snacc and Zepto Cafe in Bengaluru. Bistro was unavailable in the area.

Bone of contention