Why this food startup wants to know your mood

The bevy of food startups rising up in India makes differentiation more imperative than ever. One of the ways a nine-month-old startup has started to do so is with a new form of categorization based on the customer’s mood.

Bangalore-based Dazo – whose investors include the heads of Amazon India and Google India – figured that a user’s mood actually determines what she orders more than the type of cuisine or any other factor. With this rationale, the Dazo app now offers three types of food to suit your mood.

DazoPulse has a selection of hassle-free food that’s simple and quick, which you can have any time of the day. DazoIndulge, as the name suggests, is for days when you want to spoil yourself with an elaborate meal rich in taste. And finally, there’s DazoDelights to assuage those sinful cravings once in a while.

Dazo co-founder Shashaank Shekhar Singhal, who earlier headed the mobile products team at bus ticketing portal RedBus, tells Tech in Asia the data they’ve been tracking on the app supports the mood theory:

It shows that a customer has already made up her mind on what style of food she wants to eat. If she is in the mood for a DazoIndulge meal – she doesn’t even surf the Pulse food.

This helps declutter the customer experience, says Singhal. For example, if the user in the mood for something quick and simple, she now has 10 items to choose from on the daily menu, instead of wading through the whole lot.

Hungry competition

Dazo’s catering partners are also happy with this categorization, says Singhal, because they can position themselves better. Ice cream vendor Haagen Daz, for example, would be more likely to connect with a customer’s mood in the Delights corner.

There are some tough competitors facing Dazo in this space. FreshMenu, founded by Bangalore-based entrepreneurial couple Krishnan and Meena Ganesh, is one. It offers a daily rotating menu with Italian, continental, Asian, oriental, and Mexican dishes. The startup is in the process of raising its first round of institutional funding currently. Spoonjoy, iTiffin, and SnaxSmart deliver healthy food too, but they have a subscription-based model.

All of them are after that busy urban individual who craves healthy and tasty food but do not have the time or inclination to cook it.