Swiggy vs Zomato: Diverging paths in quick food delivery race

Foodtech major Zomato has shut down its 15-minute food delivery pilot, Quick, just four months after its launch. The move was confirmed during the company’s Q4 earnings announcement, where founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal cited operational challenges, stating that “the current restaurant density and kitchen infrastructure is not designed for 10-minute deliveries,” leading to inconsistent customer experience.

The closure comes even as rival Swiggy is doubling down on ultra-fast delivery. The company’s 10-minute food delivery service Bolt, which launched in October 2024, has expanded to over 500 cities, spanning metros and deep into tier II and III markets. Swiggy claims Bolt now contributes to over 10% of its total food delivery orders, supported by a network of more than 45,000 restaurant partners.

Swiggy Instamart initially didn’t focus on delivering orders within 10 minutes, but later it caught up with Blinkit and Zepto in terms of delivery turnaround time. “This time, Swiggy doesn’t want to be late in the ultra-fast food delivery space. In fact, it has decided to maintain its lead by expanding to over 500 cities,” said an analyst tracking the online ordering sector, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Zomato’s founder Goyal emphasized that Quick was run purely as a short-term experiment and did not lead to any incremental demand. In contrast, Swiggy Food Marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor said that its expansion to over 500 cities marks the start of a broader rollout.

Zomato appears to be refocusing on strengthening its core offerings and unit economics, especially after its Blinkit vertical saw an increase in EBITDA loss to Rs 178 crore in Q4 FY25 from Rs 103 crore in Q4 FY24. However, the subsidiary reported a 122% revenue growth in the last quarter of FY25. Overall, Zomato’s group profit declined by 78% while operational revenue jumped 64% in the same period.

Despite shutting down Quick, Zomato will continue to play in the fast food delivery space through Blinkit’s Bistro—an independent platform focused on delivering snacks, puffs, and baked goods. “Zomato wouldn’t have pulled the plug on Quick if Bistro wasn’t in place. There’s strong and growing demand for 10–15-minute food delivery in metro and large cities. Zomato understands this and is maintaining its stake through Bistro,” said the analyst mentioned above.

The shutdown of Quick seems to have been destined, considering the duplication with Blinkit as well as the rising bottomline pressure at Zomato. Otherwise, it appears too simplistic to blame restaurant density or food infra, factors Zomato of all firms is expected to know best.

Sometimes Zomato’s moves give the feeling that the firm needs to keep starting something new to keep employees interested in their jobs. The bad news is that it doesn't work that way. Sure, make a sandbox separately for experiments and pilots, but to please investors waiting for some real operational profits, it will take a lot more boring, repetitive processes to be perfected. Avoid that long enough, and the mouth-watering valuations being enjoyed will slide sooner rather than later.