Zomato begins agri, poultry and dairy supplies for restaurants via HyperPure, claims Rs 35 Cr monthly churn

Chasing scale has been a sole mantra for well funded large e-commerce companies in India. While horizontal e-commerce majors have been foraying into fintech and travel verticals, foodtech and grocery-focused companies are set to experiment with micro-delivery and farm to fork businesses.

Swiggy is poised to enter micro-delivery (aka milktech) segment. Its rival Zomato has begun farm supplies to restaurant partners in Bengaluru through HyperPure. Currently, it’s delivering farm, staples, poultry and dairy products to about 300 restaurant partners in Bengaluru.

Although the exact timing of Zomato’s entry into the segment isn’t ascertained, it already claims to have monthly order volume worth $5 million (Rs 35 crore). For the uninitiated, Zomato had acquired WOTU recently and rebranded as HyperPure.

HyperPure claims that its entire offerings are in line with FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) guidelines and sources products from suppliers who are FSSAI certified. According to a Forbes India report, it sources products from independent farmers and farmer producer organisations.

To maintain consistent superior quality, Zomato partnered with independent food quality auditing firm Equinox Labs. The company is also giving certified tag of Zomato to partners who source agricultural and meat products and packaging materials from HyperPure.

Since hygiene in food is becoming a priority for consumers, certified dining and delivery restaurants will help them in knowing whether the outlets are using quality ingredients or not along with other crucial details about the restaurant.

HyperPure also offers credit period for restaurant partners from 7 - 45 days. However, lower credit periods facilitates better prices for buyers.

Long payment cycle and fixed pricing (from restaurant front) have been major hurdles for several startups eyeing to become suppliers for restaurants. Since Zomato collects payments (when consumers order food) on behalf of restaurants, it can solve the challenge of a long payment cycle to a large extent.  

The development was first reported by Forbes.