Exclusive: Food delivery startup Swiggy to launch own brand, take on Freshmenu

This article was updated eight hours after first publication to include Swiggy’s statement.

Swiggy plans to deliver its own gourmet burgers. Photo credit: André Luís.

Last week, the Swiggy offices in Bangalore were in a festive mood. It was the startup’s second anniversary, so the white balloons on the floor and partying was in order.

But founders Sriharsha Majety, Nandan Reddy, and Rahul Jaimini had other things on their mind.

To mark its expansion, the upstart rival to Zomato is planning to take things beyond food delivery and get into the high margin world of in-house cooking, multiple sources aware of the development told Tech in Asia. They did not want to be named because the plans are not public yet.

If Swiggy’s test of owning its own kitchens work out, that part of its business will pitch it directly in Freshmenu’s turf. Tech in Asia could not verify how many kitchens the startup is planning to launch with.

Swiggy, however, denied it was in competition with Freshmenu.

“In order to ensure an adequate selection of restaurants available for consumers, we are experimenting with new initiatives. These range from working with chefs to creating infrastructure for joint ventures with existing restaurant partners – all aimed to meet the growing consumer demand across areas and cities,” the company said in an emailed statement.

“FreshMenu and Swiggy have very different businesses. Also, Swiggy is a delivery partner of FreshMenu.”

Despite a few controversial steps like introducing surge pricing, Swiggy has made considerable strides in the jaded world of food tech in India.

Bootstrapped till January 2015, Swiggy raised US$35 million in funding earlier this year, helping turn the tide for the industry. The startup currently fulfills about 45,000 orders daily. In comparison, bigger rival Zomato said it fulfilled 33,000 online orders in June. Zomato also lists restaurants that take orders via phone calls. A Zomato spokesperson did not respond to an email asking for total daily orders fulfilled by the company.

See: Swiggy cooks up $35m funding, proves India’s food startups aren’t toxic

The Bangalore-based startup is already testing its in-house food ordering services, which is expected to launch this year, the sources said. Targeted at office workers, the selection will be a mix of no-mess food like gourmet sandwiches, boxed meals, and the occasional exotic ramen, they said.

“It is still in the test phase, but the price points will be at par with, or slightly higher than what you see currently. This will be a high margin business,” one of the people said.

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