Zepto to launch separate app for ‘Zepto Cafe’ – CNBC TV18

With 10-minute delivery going beyond grocery in various categories, food is emerging as the next frontier of quick deliveries. The latest entrant into this space is Zepto, which is set to launch a separate app for its food offering.

This strategic move comes as Zepto Café continues its rapid expansion, with over 100 new cafés opening each month across six major cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune.

Zepto’s co-founder Aadit Palicha said in a post on social media platform X that they will be launching a separate app for Zepto Café next week.

“The team is shipping an MVP and iterating quickly, so it may not be perfect on Day 1, but it’s worth it to launch fast,” he wrote.

Until now, Zepto Cafe was a part of the main Zepto app. Users will still be able to order Café products on the main Zepto app.

“There is a significant consumer top-of-mind advantage to a separate app, and we are seeing the economics work stand-alone. So, a stand-alone app makes sense. Users will still be able to order Café products on the main Zepto app,” Aadit Palicha, Co-founder & CEO of Zepto, said in a statement.

Zepto Cafe currently offers food and beverage options ranging from coffees, juices, snacks to meals.

Currently, Zepto Café sees 30,000 orders per day, operating across 15% of Zepto’s 600+ dark store network. With 100 cafés launching monthly, the company plans to scale operations to 100% across its 25+ city network in the coming months.

As part of the launch, Zepto Café is offering 4 million Vietnamese Cold Coffees for free starting December 16th.

It also plans to expand the menu with new offerings.

In October, Swiggy forayed into 10-minute food delivery with the launch of Bolt. Two months since its launch, it now accounts for 5% of all food deliveries the company said in its recent earnings report.

Bolt caters to food items from a 2-kilometer radius, delivery food items that involve minimum preparation times like burgers, snacks, beverages, Biryani, among others.

It has now expanded to over 400 cities and towns across the country including emerging hubs such as Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Indore, Coimbatore, and Kochi, as well as in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Roorkee, Guntur, Warangal, Patna, Jagtial, Solan, Nashik, Shillong, and more.

The CEO Sriharsha Majety said that consumer expectations are now changing on the back of the rapid growth in quick commerce and are now expecting their food to arrive in 10 minutes as well, which prompted the move into this space.

Zomato also tested 10-minute delivery, but scrapped the service a year after piloting it in Bengaluru, Gurugram and Delhi in 2022. It had said in January 2023 that it was rebranding this offering to Zomato Instant.