In the early 2020s, when the concept of quick commerce was floating around, people scoffed at the idea. Sure, Domino’s had tried the 30-minutes policy for its pizza and with predetermined terms, but groceries in 15 minutes? 10? That was unheard of. Cut to 2025 and everyone wants to go the q-comm route, including established players, like Amazon and Flipkart. There are even plans for ambulances to go the quick commerce way through Blinkit. And is food delivery, also, going to fall under this umbrella, which has been getting crazy funding?
It seems like Indian consumers have been spoiled by the instant gratification these platforms have been providing. With the click of a button, anything could be summoned to your doorstep, reminiscent of the magic phone in “Chain Kulli Ki Main Kulli”. And that’s fitting, because there’s an aim to bring food in as little as 10 to 15 minutes, if not 10 seconds.
In December 2024, Zepto came out with “Zepto Cafe”, offering 10-minute delivery of coffee, tea, snacks and meals and this was said to be already handling more than 50,000 daily orders and over 1 million app downloads. In January 2025, Swiggy launched “Snacc” to deliver snacks, tiffin items, meals and beverages in 10 to 15 minutes. And in the same month, Blinkit launched a 10-minute food delivery app called “Bistro”. The first mover of this quick-commerce food delivery is said to be Swish, which was said to have secured about $2 million in funding. To the everyday person, $2 million is more money than they could ever imagine, but for a Swish, it may pale in comparison to the war chests its rivals may have. So, does the early-mover advantage still count?
So, it’s interesting, because many of these players already have an established presence through the dark stores that Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy have or restaurant partnerships that Swiggy has. Though, carrying raw items or stationery in 15 minutes might be different than food. If they’re going the food route, folks are going to have to think about the food items that would be available to be delivered in this short period of time or what the cooking process would look like. Is there some cutting-edge tech that would enable quicker cooking?
If a cake takes 30 minutes to bake in an oven at 180 degree Celsius, according to proportional reasoning, could the cake be baked in 2 minutes at 2700 degrees Celsius? The idea sounds cool to deliver food in such a short period of time. Though, folks, like BSC’s Shantanu Deshpande have raised an eyebrow about whether this could lead to worse nutrition, the use of highly processed prepackaged masalas and more. At the same time, Blinkit’s Bistro is promising to deliver fresh and preservative-free meals.
Understandably, the modern urban consumer is super busy with long commutes and hectic schedules, so they might find themselves unable to cook, unless they’re rich enough to hire someone to cook for them. So, the problem statement might be there. But, is this the long-term solution to back? Would the demanding consumer still want freshness and discounts and speed at the same time? A startup might be ambitious enough to strive to shave minutes off delivery time, but how much faster would their gig workers zip through congested roads? Maybe, a restaurant chain, like Starbucks, that has pre-packaged foods might be able to be part of this quick commerce process. But, Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Wellington might take a little longer to be on a customer’s doorstep in 15 minutes.
But, it’s interesting because while food delivery has become a norm, due to longer delivery times, certain items may not be ordered. Maybe, hot tea or hot coffee could get more traction as a delivery item. Though, while the profit margins might be razor thin generally with quick commerce, quick-order items might be low-ticket offerings, so the margins might be even thinner. Who said the economics of quick commerce was forgiving? And maybe, if consumer behaviour is alternative with the “quick commercization” of food delivery, large chains or cloud kitchens may get all the glory, while smaller or independent restaurants might be left behind in the dust.
The online food delivery market in India is projected to have a market volume of about $90 billion by 2029. And some think that 10-minute food delivery could make up to 20% of India’s overall FoodTech market.
So, the next time you order food time, how insatiable will your appetite be?
