Deepinder Goyal-led Zomato launches 15-minute food delivery service

Deepinder Goyal-led food delivery giant Zomato has taken another shot at speedy food deliveries by introducing a new 15-minute delivery tab on its main app.

The feature appears in the explore section, giving customers access to restaurants located within a short radius—approximately 1.5 kilometres—so the food can arrive within 15 minutes.

As of now, it does not apply to all orders, and the food aggregator has yet to make a formal announcement about the service.

Rising competition

The move follows a pattern of rapid expansion in the quick food delivery market. Rival platform Swiggy launched its 10-minute delivery service, Bolt, earlier and plans to extend it to tier 2 and tier 3 cities, while Zomato’s grocery arm Blinkit introduced Bistro, which also promises deliveries in around 10 minutes.

Bistro marks Blinkit’s first attempt in this space, but it is Zomato’s second, as the company had rolled out a 10-minute delivery pilot called Zomato Instant that was later shut down. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had clarified at the time that the 10-minute model would focus only on popular and standardized dishes at nearby locations.

The sudden surge of quick-delivery apps indicates a growing trend among major players to capture this time-sensitive market. Swiggy, Zepto, and Magicpin have all joined the race, offering ultra-fast deliveries in select cities.

Zepto's expansion into the food delivery service

Zepto is working on its own 10-minute food service, Zepto Cafe while emerging startups such as Swish and Zing are also trying to make a mark.

Zomato’s latest 15-minute feature hints that the company is looking to refine its quick-delivery strategy, potentially learning from past attempts as it attempts to stay competitive in India’s booming food tech sector.