Zomato to launch 10-minute food delivery pilots in NCR under Quick next week

Zomato is set to launch a pilot for its new 10-minute food delivery service, 'Quick', in the NCR region next week, according to sources.

"Zomato has reached out to restaurant partners to initiate its 10-minute food delivery program Quick starting with restaurant with consistent ratings across hygiene, kitchen prep time and quality," Kawaljeet Singh, CEO and Co-founder of Harsukh Foods, which operates over 50 restaurant outlets in NCR-region, told YourStory.

An additional source in the F&B industry shared that Zomato, led by Deepinder Goyal, has contacted restaurant partners via email, asking them to participate by offering select dishes under the new initiative. The email was reviewed by YourStory.

Zomato declined to comment on the queries shared by YourStory, and instead reiterated its plans outlined in the third-quarter shareholder letter.

Last week, Zomato revealed that its 10-minute delivery service would feature curated items from restaurant partners' menus, along with a dedicated delivery fleet to ensure speed and efficiency.

Quick will compete with Swiggy's food delivery model Bolt, which has seen a spurt in popularity accounting for 5% of the platform's orders, as per Swiggy's September quarter earnings.

​"Bolt is a very high-focus programme for Swiggy, so they give a lot of visibility and entry points for Bolt brands. The “Bolt” nugget is visible on the landing page as well as on the top of their “Food” page. These things activate multiple entry points for brands leading to an increase in top of the funnel, impressions and menu opens. Restaurants are pushing for higher menu penetration of Bolt items so that they don’t lose on these entry points," said Karan Tanna, Founder & CEO of Ghost Kitchens, which runs brands like Starboy Pizzas and Speak Burgers.

"While it is still early days and January is a slow month for the industry, there has been no incremental growth in restaurant's business with the 10-minute food delivery service. The same customer is now ordering through Bolt and others," noted Singh.

The 10-minute food delivery market is becoming increasingly competitive, with both new and established players. Zepto Cafe, an early player in the segment, has already established itself as a standalone offering within the company's quick commerce ecosystem. CEO Aadit Palicha shared in a January post on X that Zepto Cafe had successfully completed over 50,000 orders a day within just a month of launching.

Other startups like Accel-backed Swish and NCR-based Zing are also targeting the 10-minute cloud kitchen delivery model. Quick commerce players like BB Now and Zomato's Blinkit, under Bistro, are also looking to scale 10-minute food delivery under private label. Earlier this month, Swiggy launched a separate app under the name Snacc to offer 10-minute food options under its private label.

Foodtech startups launching private labels have upset the National Restaurants Association of India as it sees the move as an invasion of its turf.