India’s Ola, which has expanded to select international markets and set ambitious goals for its electric vehicles business, is struggling with selling food. So it is making major changes to its food business.
The ride-hailing giant is pivoting Foodpanda, the Indian business of the food delivery startup it acquired in late 2017, to focus on in-house food brands, sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Unlike market leaders Zomato and Naspers-backed Swiggy that work with tens of thousands of restaurants to deliver food, Foodpanda will now focus on expanding its own portfolio of private labels, sources said.
Ola currently has over 50 kitchens and four private labels — Flrt, The Khichdi Experiment, Lovemade and Grandma’s Kitchen — that cover items such as shakes, biryani, and khichri, a dish from the Indian subcontinent made from rice and lentils. They operate in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai. The pivot comes as Foodpanda finds competition from Zomato and Swiggy unsustainable, one of the sources said. Local newspaper Mint reported earlier today that Ola was suspending Foodpanda’s business in India.