20 Feb 2019 | 04:09am IST
Urban Goa’s eating habits are getting app-etising
Eating out can now be eating in. Many no longer go to restaurants, the restaurants come to them, often multiple ones for the same meal. App based food delivery platforms are a reflection of how Goans and those who live here have adapted to a new way of life. It’s also great business for restaurants who can now go to customers,
Team Café
You live in Panjim because this your first job and you can’t
commute from Cuncolim and share a dig with
a mate and have no time to cook or eat out
The fish curry and rice and home and
sorpotel too, but you are craving for thai yellow lamb curry instead with
sticky rice and need it on your work desk
You are done with your dinner at home but
need an ice-cream- yes just an ice-cream with the nearest parlour a fair
distance away
As it often happens in Goa, a large number
of family and friends have dropped in on a Sunday morning expecting to stay for
lunch. And unlike the old times, large Goan homes neither have the staff or the
women folk in the family who spent hours in the kitchen cooking up a storm
There are real life situations in the Goa
of today. Not quite the Bombay & Bangalore where the food app is the
kitchen on the go but a new Goa where the home fires may not be burning and
replaced by the friendly food delivered by the food delivery boy of a new age
delivery company. And quite like Uber and Ola cars these app companies do not
have restaurants or cooks but place you in a virtual food court where hundreds
of restaurants, cooks, waiters are at your service, at the tap of a button. For
years, ordering in meant just pizza. Now it could be the whole food plaza.
The narrative of eating out in Goa is
changing. It’s turned to eating in both for convenience and pleasure. There are
many reasons for this and some of them are typical situations that come up,
mentioned in the beginning of this article.
Added to this is the sheer convenience of eating on your work
desk or lunch room in office to cope with urban problems like parking
(especially during lunch time at Panjim) a daily weekday reality
Moreover a large number of the young with decent disposable
incomes or those who are working and living in Panjim and yet have sufficient
family support in other towns and villages, are choosing to combine the
advantages of eating in the comfort of homes and offices and without having to
shop and cook.
Says a young Thysca Lobo of Panjim, “It’s helpful when you’re
not feeling like stepping out or even during work when you have to complete a
lot of tasks and have no time to spare.
Interestingly, those from remote parts of Goa, where the app
based food deliveries no not reach have been bitten by the ordering in bug,
while at work in Panjim and want the same deliveries at home
For instance, Jane Pereira of Carambolim in Old Goa says, “It is
quite convenient for me especially at work, I can just order and the food will
come at an estimated time. But there are many places where these app based
services do not deliver, especially since I’m from Carambolim an inner village
in Old Goa. I guess they should start service everywhere”
But as the demand increases the competition to have the largest
number of restaurants under their belt and have a greater reach of areas, is
increasing. At the same time restaurants, realizing that the number of
footfalls are getting affected are willing to pay upto even Rs 18,000 a month
to one of the app based delivery services plus a percentage of the bill.
Restaurants in turn get reviews and promotions and even smart signages.
The model seems to working, for all kinds of restaurants, even
for those on wheels. Steve Dias- Business partner at Antojitos a Gourmet Food
Truck Taleigao, says “As a vendor on the app we have seen a considerable surge
in the orders we receive and we believe that these apps have given us access to
a whole new database of customers. With their aggressive marketing (discounts
&promotions) and quest for growth in their databases I see it as a win-win
situation for both vendors as well as consumers”.
The heads of leading app based food delivery companies are
optimistic about the Goa market. Namit Chimulkar, founder of Done Delivery, a
newly launched delivery app in Panjim says, “Ever since we started the system
of Don Delivery we had an immediate good response. Our operational areas are
Panjim, Bambolim, Porvorim, Kadamba plateau, Hill rock Kadamba and Mapusa which
is the most recent. I believe that we are a bridge between the customers and
the restaurants”
Adib Jasani, City Head of Zomato Goa, which is currently very
aggressive in the Goa market, with deliveries, mainly limited to urban Panjim
and surrounding areas but expanding, says “Goa has been a tourist’s delight to
find food at every nook and corner. With technology advancement, the food
business also has evolved. Food delivery is a thriving business with tremendous
opportunities for growth of restaurants and employment to the local youth”
And Swiggy, arguably Zomato’s competitior, with a difference
that Swiggy does just deliveries whereas Zomato has a promotion vertical, feels
that the response in the first three months gives it confidence that this
market is ready. Swiggy claims that it has 350 restaurants on the platform, the
widest selection of restaurants in Goa,
Meanwhile, Srivats TS, VP, Marketing Swiggy, feels that
“convenience and reliability” is the key to success in this market, which his
platform brings for both tourists and locals.
So
let’s sit back with the TV remote on one hand, a cool drink on the table and
the mobile phone handy to tap your order. Or alternately with your lap top
open, with an important power point slide at work and you decide to get a quick
lunch before the all important presentation.
