INDIA – The Indian restaurant search and discovery service, Zomato has said that it plans to invest US$8.03 million (Rs 56 crore) in setting up 20 more warehouses across the country by 2020.
The warehouses will be launched under its B2B platform, Hyperpure in 18 cities, starting from the top metros before moving to smaller cities as it looks to gain a bigger market share in the food delivery space.
Zomato has launched its 40,000-sq ft warehouse in Delhi which is designed to supply 5,000 MT capacity per month and is equipped to serve 3,000 restaurants every day, according to ET Retail.
The firm aims to expand the Hyperpure platform, which it acquired in 2018 to enable restaurant owners, caterers, hotels, and other food service businesses order fresh produce, packaged food and poultry.
Hyperpure works directly with a large network of farmers, mills, producers and processors, and builds and monitors relationships with the source of each of its products.
The company currently has two warehouses, one in Bengaluru and another in Delhi, with a combined capacity of 9,000 metric ton (MT) per month.
The Delhi warehouse gives Hyperpure access to more than 35,000 restaurants listed in the Delhi-NCR area on Zomato.
Each warehouse has been set up with an approximate initial investment of US$400,000, according to Gaurav Gupta, co-founder and chief operating officer, Zomato.
“For restaurants, Zomato has become a very holistic provider for delivery orders, of customers who want to dine out and, now, as a raw material supplier to them,” said Gaurav Gupta.
The increased investments are geared towards expanding its presence across the markets, having increased its presence in more than 200 cities in India, up from 15 cities in FY18.
Zomato recently offloaded its United Arab Emirates (UAE) delivery business to Delivery Hero to focus on the rapidly growing delivery service in India.
