Blinkit strives for two wins with Bistro—tasty food, timely deliveries
What's the story
Blinkit has announced the launch of its food delivery service called 'Bistro,' promising to deliver high-quality meals in just 10 minutes. Blinkit CEO Albinder Dhindsa streesses that the food prepared by Bistro will not contain preservatives or be microwaved processed. The service is currently live in select locations in Gurugram as part of its first phase. Bistro aims to make high-quality meals more accessible, possibly bringing more customers to the idea of "outside of home" food consumption, according to Dhindsa.
Clarification
Blinkit CEO addresses concerns over competition with restaurant partners
As Bistro would function independently from Blinkit and Zomato, with its own app, Dhindsa has addressed worries of competing with restaurant partners. He clarified that neither Zomato nor Blinkit will introduce private brands on their platforms. He said, "Zomato will never launch private brands on the Zomato app to compete with its restaurant partners. This still holds true." He added that Bistro is a standalone team with a standalone app and no Zomato restaurant data has been used by it.
Industry backlash
NRAI opposes food delivery giants' new ventures
The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has strongly opposed food delivery giants Zomato and Swiggy entering private-label food delivery via their quick-commerce platforms. Representing over 500,000 restaurants in India, the NRAI argues that this violates marketplace neutrality and fair competition. It further accuses the companies of using their dominant market position and access to restaurant data to launch private-label food products directly or through subsidiaries like Blinkit Bistro and Swiggy SNACC.
Twitter Post
Investments in infrastructure and R&D to create dishes quickly
Introducing Bistro - Blinkit’s new 10 minute food offering. Bistro is a new app, outside of Blinkit and Zomato. This service is currently live across a few locations in Gurugram to help us find product market fit.
— Albinder Dhindsa (@albinder) January 10, 2025
With @bistrobyblinkit we will offer our customers high quality,… pic.twitter.com/hYcNKlkCOB