Restaurant discovery and listing platform Burrp is making a transition into an online ordering and transaction-led model, competing against the likes of Zomato and Foodpanda in the food delivery segment.

“After resurrecting our brand last year, we are now moving from an online-listing to a transaction-led model, and expect to break even in the third year of operations with a turnover of ₹150 crore,”Pradeep Prabhu, Co- Business Head, Burrp.

At a time when most food tech companies are struggling to get their business model right, Burrp has taken the challenge of entering the online food delivery space without a delivery fleet of its own, with its 65,000 listed restaurants across 12 cities doing the deliveries.

“We have been charging a listing fee, and currently have revenues of ₹6 crore. However, this model is going to help in scaling revenues. So now, we are moving from reviews and ratings, and entering the next phase of growth by having online transactions by the first quarter of this year,” added Prabhu.

Since Burrp was launched in 2006, it has changed its owners, and was acquired by Infomedia, part of Network 18, in 2009. Network 18 was, in turn, acquired by Reliance Industries. Burrp now continues to be a division of Network 18.

Tapping into Jio

Being a part of RIL, Burrp is also expected to be in a consumer-facing segment along with Reliance Jio, and will be tapping into synergies between the businesses. “Jio is already creating a digital ecosystem, and we will be associated with Jio through features such as Jio Chat and Jio Money. In future, we will be also tapping into the Wi-Fi services that Jio may provide. Today, we want to function as a start-up with the backing of RIL, which was been investing in us.”

Burrp is also expected to introduce new features such as dynamic pricing, and is working with restaurants to incorporate the feature on the app. “We are trying to create differentiation in the food tech business, and have built our model like the US-based company, Yelp,” added Prabhu.

Playing catch up

But resurrecting its business model without owning its own delivery fleet may create hurdles for the decade-old company. According to industry observers, while Burrp has to play catch up with its competitors such as Swiggy, Zomato and Foodpanda that came much after, it will also have the disadvantage of not be able to control the customer experience. Players such as TinyOwl (which was bought by delivery platform Runnr) had to shut shop bust since it did not own a delivery fleet.

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