Smart way to order food

Tracking trend

Food apps like Zomato Order, Foodpanda, Swiggy, FoodMingo, Just-Eat, TravelKhana have changed the way we order food. These apps have caught the eye of many, especially the youngsters and there are a lot of reasons for the same, ranging from fast deliveries to discount coupons.

Monica Jain, Director of TravelKhana, which delivers food at railway stations, adds “Food apps are the need of the day because most people are working and due to shortage of time food apps are becoming a popular medium for ordering food”.

Many people are opting for food apps because their delivery is faster and more reliable than ordering directly from the restaurant, where the timings are unreliable. Food ordering apps generally have their own delivery system in place and order tracking option. Zomato Order has partnered with expert last mile delivery companies like Delhivery and Grab.  Some like Swiggy use their own delivery boys.

“Till now all my deliveries have been hot and the delivery tracker on these apps is most accurate,” says Vini Nair, a regular user of Foodpanda.

A number of youngsters are also using these apps as “dining out has become a popular option for them. Thus, a restaurant finding and ordering service gives the convenience of ordering food from the comfort of their home or offices by pressing a few buttons,” says the Tanmay Saksena, Global Business head of Zomato Order,a popular food ordering app.
Apart from fast deliveries, food apps also provide a wide range of  restaurant options to choose from near your house. ‘Zomato Order, covers almost 12000 of the restaurants in 14 cities. Most of these apps are up to date on the restaurant menus. However, some food apps like Fassos, Holachef, have their own featured menu to choose from.

“Food ordering apps are not just about food ordering and delivery but also what kind of food you offer by virtue of creating many options. Our idea was to create a wide variety of local cuisines which people feel close to. So from all over India we have variety of local dishes as part of our menu that people prefer to eat,” says Saurabh Saxena, CEO and founder of Holachef, which collaborates with more than 200 chefs to create an exciting menu to choose from and operates in Mumbai and Pune.

People also prefer using food ordering apps because of the accountability for the food they deliver, so there is little chance of complaints going unregistered. “In case there is some issue regarding quality and the response from the restaurant is not favourable one can always call the apps’ customer service,” Nair tells Metrolife.

“We have a criteria on basis of which we select a restaurant, like the quality of food they deliver and if the customer is not happy we refund the money and sometimes also penalise the restaurants,” says Jain. Food apps also provide huge amount of discounts coupons to customers, which is another reason for their popularity. “Discounts are a smart way to attract customers and create market where there is a lot of competition,” says Jain.