Food Companies Acquiring Decrease In Demand With Consumers Recoiling Towards Online Food Services
Since April there has been a asurge in demand as consumers used to fill their carts with grocery and many companies were ramping up production capacities to meet up the sale.
Leading food Companies including Parle, Britannia and ITC are facing a reversal of high record demand between April and June when most Indian hunkered down in their homes due to pandemic.
For large food aggregators running accelerately Swiggy and Zomato, food accounts for 75-80% of their business.
Zomato said 50% of its restaurant partners started offering delivery compared with 30-35% during the second and third phases of lockdown in April.
Swiggy, supply has been limited to 25-40% compared with pre-covid levels, with more restaurant partners being operational in tier-1 cities.
In May, National Restaurant Association of India, which is close to half a million restaurant members, said industry was staring at large scale shutdowns and massive job loss, and imminent closure of many food and beverage establishments.
For restaurants, the manpower ability was be an initial challenge and many of them who have been focused on dining may have to adapt themselves for delivery as well.
Restaurants have to introduce new and dynamic menus and reimagine recipes to find equilibrium between changing demands and product availability,” said Mohit Sardana, COO- food delivery at Zomato.
The lack of supply has also started to affect demand with consumers.
Customers have shown intent to purchase, can be noticed by them visiting the app and trying to place orders, but not going ahead because of multiple reasons such as shortage of supply or their favourite restaurants not delivering which is resuming soon.
