Zomato takes food delivery to cinema halls, days after Swiggy announces it will deliver orders in trains

Online delivery platform Zomato indicated that it will deliver food orders at PVR Cinemas in Gurugram. Sahibjeet Singh Sawhney, Marketing Head at Zomato, took to LinkedIn and said, "Skip the queue - at PVRs, now order from your seat on Zomato."

Zomato and rival Swiggy dominate the food delivery market in the country, accounting for about 95 percent of the entire business. But Zomato has turned profitable, while Swiggy is moving in that direction.

Just days ago, Swiggy and The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) signed an agreement for food delivery services to train passengers traveling through Bengaluru, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, and Vijayawada. The partnership aims to extend the service to more than 59 stations in the next six months.

"IRCTC does e-catering in around 350 stations in the A and A1 class. Mail express trains stop for more time in these stations and so it's easier to deliver," said IRCTC managing director Sanjay Kumar Jain.

"We are already working with 17 aggregators, including Zomato. Our e-catering business this year already has done Rs 30 crore in revenue. We are giving 60,000 meals per day and almost at a zero percent complaint rate," he added.

There are two kinds of order flows that will be made available to consumers: first, they can enter their PNR number on the Swiggy interface and continue to order.

In the second, they have to input the PNR on the IRCTC app, select the preferred station for food delivery, browse through an extensive list of restaurants on Swiggy, choose a restaurant that is delivering at the specified location and time.

This comes at a time when Swiggy is preparing for an initial public offering, while the market for food deliveries in India is said to be slowing down. Its revenue grew 45 percent to Rs 8,625 crore in FY23, while its net loss widened to Rs 4,179 crore.