India's top online food delivery firm Zomato on Monday hiked its platform fees by 25 percent and also suspended its intercity food delivery services. As per reports, Zomato price hike will increase the cost by Rs 5 which will bolster the company's EBITDA. Notably, Zomato platform price increase came days before the company was all set to announce its March quarter financial results. It is pertinent to mention here that in August 2023, Zomato introduced a Rs 2 platform fee back when it looked to boost its margins and become profitable. Thereafter, Deepinder Joshi's CO-Founded company hiked the fee to Rs 3 before raising it again on January 1 to Rs 4. While the share of Zomato is witnessing a positive surge in the stock market, there are apps or alternatives that people may use to get cheaper food. Below are top 5 Zomato alternatives-
1) Swiggy
Swiggy is the top-most rival of Zomato. With over 100 million plus downloads on Andriod. Headquartered in Bangalore, Swiggy is reportedly operational in more than 500 Indian cities as of September 2021. As per reports, people of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, and Gujarat, are frequent users of Swiggy.
2) UberEats
UberEats is another rival of Zomato. US company Uber launched its UberEats services in 2014. The meals are delivered by couriers using various methods, including cars, scooters, bikes, or on foot. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021. It also has 100 million plus downloads.
3) Food Panda
Another food-delivery app Food Panda was established in 2012 as an on-demand food delivery business by Ralf Wenzel and Benjamin Bauer from Germany. Food Panda goes by Hellofood and operates through the website in South America, Africa, and the Middle East. Various restaurants with cuisines from Asia, Europe, or Mexico are available on FoodPanda.
In India, In early 2015, the company made an all-stock purchase of TastyKhana.in, and the portal Just Eat India. However, due to some issues, Foodpanda's business in India was acquired by Ola through an all-share deal on 11 December 2017. Ola suspended Foodpanda India's food delivery business in 2019 and fired most of its food delivery executives. The Foodpanda brand was said to continue with in-house brands or cloud kitchens. In 2019, however, it only had three private label brands under its cloud kitchen business, including FLRT and Great Khichdi Experiment.
4) Domino's
Multiple food outlets including Dominois have launched their own apps. Therefore pizza lovers can order their pizza directly from Domino's app.
5. Dunzo
Although not a direct rival of Zomato, people can order fruits and vegetables, meat, pet supplies, food, and medicines in major cities from the Dunzo app. As per reports, Dunzo currently provides its delivery services in eight Indian cities including Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.