Food aggregators and quick commerce platforms saw record orders on New Year’s eve, surpassing last year’s figures. Indians ordered in everything from biryani to soft drinks, chips, pizzas, and even karela (bitter gourd).
Prominent food delivery app Zomato recorded 45 per cent more orders compared to last year. Its CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted that deliveries on December 31 exceeded the number of orders it received in the first three years put together.
Goyal said there were 16,514 biryani orders on the last day of the year. “16514 biryanis (roughly 15 tonnes that is?) on the way to where they belong right now,” he tweeted. Goyal went out to deliver some of the orders himself.
Zomato’s quick commerce arm Blinkit recorded three times the orders it received a year ago, CEO Albinder Dhindsa said. As revellers geared up to ring in the new year, orders for soda water, tonic water, ice cubes, and soft drinks spiked. “Looks like peanuts are India’s favorite chakna [munchies],” Dhindsa tweeted.
He also cracked a wry joke over the orders for bitter gourd. “Want to personally have a chat with the 560 people who have ordered Karela tonight,” he wrote.
Zomato’s competitor Swiggy also saw a high volume of orders. Its CEO Shriharsha Majety tweeted, “122K + users live on the app right now. Happy to see Swiggy’s mission of delivering unparalleled convenience coming to life.”
The company’s Twitter handle shared that about 12,344 people ordered khichdi on the platfrom, which also registered orders for 13,894 packets of nachos, 14,453 lemons, and 14,890 sodas. Onions were, clearly, the flavour of the evening as the platform saw 15,920 orders for onion pizzas, 7,622 orders for onion kachoris, 5,498 orders for onion uthappam, and sale of 30,177 kg onions.