How the online food industry is influencing the Indian consumer

Itrsquos 10 pm While most people have left their offices and are heading home 27yearold Monish Moorthy is still at work in his Andheri office sifting through the trending tweets on Twitter Hersquos hungry but too occupied to step out for a bite He reaches for his smartphone and opens the TinyOwl app After a few minutes of browsing he isnrsquot satisfied Next he checks the Holachef app that offers food whipped up by home chefs and trained chefsldquoUsually there are more discounts on Foodpanda but I prefer Holachef Most food aggregators apart from TinyOwl Home Made offer restaurant food which I donrsquot like With Holachef I get food directly from kitchens or chefsrdquo he reasons Moorthy is one of the many Mumbaikars who have found relief thanks to food aggregators like Foodpanda Zomato TinyOwl Hola Chef and CyberChef There are also independent apps such as Faasos Box8 Noodle Play that broadlyfollow similar processesPaid perfectAfter selecting his meal Moorthy a content manager with Experience Commerce pays via his PayTM wallet and slips back to work on his laptop Though a restaurant is a fiveminute walk from his office Moorthy stays put Why Itrsquos not just about the food but also the preference of paying online via an app ldquoEven if I have cash I prefer to pay online as itrsquos convenient Besides I can use my debit or credit card or mobile wallet Itrsquos also why I donrsquot order from TinyOwl Home Made They offer just COD cash on deliveryrdquo he adds Several mobile wallets or payment systems have emerged in the last few years catering to online services like Holachef such as PayU Citrus which offers the backend support to PayTM Paynear and ePaisa among others Bengalurubased MOMOE Xpress claims to have a nearly threelakh user base and have plans to enter Mumbai in two months ldquoIn Bengaluru wersquove covered over 2500 outlets mdash from chaiwallahs on cycles to auto garages local groceries and highend fashion retail outlets We hope to replicate this in Mumbairdquo shares Siddhart Nair sales manager MOMOEService mattersBack in Mumbai within a minute of his making the payment Moorthy receives a message lsquoYour order is confirmed It will be delivered in 30 minutesrsquoHolachef has created its own hybrid system that allows them to manage various processes of the business ldquoOur menu is predetermined but changes daily Our company app allows us to communicate with our chefs who post their dishes with its quantities daily Once itrsquos determined we upload it online Dishes go on sale automatically after we receive a fixed number of ordersrdquo informs Anil Gelra Cofounder and CTO HolachefNearly 18 kilometers away in Lalbaug 28yearold professional Biney Koul is scanning restaurant menus on Zomato Order a new app that the restaurant locator website launched recently to tackle the popularity of other food aggregators He follows a similar process He selects a dish from a local food joint pays via card and minutes later receives a confirmation messageThe message comes from the food aggregator where another professional like Koul was checking on a monitor for fresh updates on new orders At the same time the eatery beside Koulrsquos office receives a similar message on a tablet that was shared by the food aggregator He checks with his kitchen manager for the ordersKitchen confidentialInside the kitchen the manager gets details about the order checks the inventory on his app and confirms the items on order The restaurant manager having received confirmation from his kitchen confirms the order via the app The system at the food aggregator notifies Koul of the order lsquoYour order is confirmed It will be delivered in 30 minutesrsquoThis assembly line precision is managed either by a hybrid restaurant and supply chain management system or predesigned variants like those offered by companies like Posist Point Shelf or SmartHotels These companies offer software that automates every process mdash from taking orders within a hotelonline to informing kitchen heads ofexisting inventory to probable replacement dates and also ensures retaining of uniform quality of food by digitising recipes and cooking methodsFor some reason if a restaurant manager fails to confirm an order an executive from the food aggregator will call for confirmation The food aggregator earns a certain percentage of the order value as commission The restaurant will receive his payment within a dayDelivery does the trickMeanwhile a delivery boy from Grabin receives an intimation on his company smartphone that a delivery package would be ready in 10 minutes Along with the intimation he receives details about the pickup point and route map to the restaurant and the delivery point ldquoWe have a company app that gives details about the pickup location and delivery destination to the delivery boy and shortest routes to reach there The app also sends his name and number to the aggregator and gathers his location on a regular basis which is provided to the consumer via an API integrated into the food delivery apprdquo says Pratish Sanghvi cofounder of Grabin The company currently manages food delivery services for Zomato in 12 Indian cities and also for multicity chains like Faasos and Burger KingAn important part of the restaurant business today is to gauge consumer behaviour and to maintain a lively presence online This need has resulted in new companies like MassBlurb who offer onestop solutions to meet all the online needs of restaurantsldquoWe offer services like website management listings on different food aggregators social network promotion search rankings and analytics over all this for a monthly rentalrdquo says Pankit Chheda cofounder MassBlurb Based out of Andheri MassBlurb witnesses an annual turnover of R30 lakh with over 270 businesses on board of which 100120 are from MumbaiCustomer is kingldquoToday most customer discoveries are online Be it visiting a restaurant or ordering via an app the first thing that customers do is check about a restaurant online Hence itrsquos vital to get the correct presence and information Analytics help businesses figure their standing among competitionrdquo affirms ChhedaKeeping an eye on consumer behaviour via social media and customer feedback helped Holachef gain insight into the importance of packaging The companyrsquos carry bags are a huge craze among users and its Twitter page is filled with consumer photos ldquoOur bags have are crucial to brand building In the one year many have told us that they love our bags because they are durable and brightly colouredrdquo adds GelraBut itrsquos not all smooth riding on this technology wave Companies like MassBlurb have been facing difficulties in making people understand the system ldquoIndiarsquos FampB industry is small scale most of which still runs traditionally where the owner doubles up as the cashier People have low patience levels and want immediate returns But computer analytics online promotions and marketing needs time to produce results And people donrsquot seem to have itrdquo summarises Chheda