One sector which came to the rescue of people stuck inside their homes during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic was food delivery—even as the pandemic raged on, food delivery riders took the risk head-on and delivered orders to customers at their homes. Consequently, despite the pandemic, the foodtech sector saw handsome growth in numbers. The two major players—Swiggy and Zomato—saw average order values (AOVs) and order numbers peaking to record levels. However, despite the apparent boom, it became obvious that there were enough challenges for food delivery, and smart margins were hard to achieve. This is because India’s food delivery market is bogged down by low AOVs, high delivery costs and deep discounts, making it difficult for players to achieve margin growth beyond a point. Adjacencies had to be…
