Bangalore Based EatFresh Shuts Food Delivery Service, Now Focusing On Bulk Orders

EatFresh, the Bengaluru-based food tech startup has shut down its food delivery service and will now only cater to party or bulk orders in the future. As per an update on their website, they are closing their on-demand meal delivery service.

The message on their website said, “Dear Customer, We no longer operate our on-demand meal delivery service, and will only cater to party or bulk orders in the future. We strived to create a differentiated offering, and hope that we leave you with some happy memories.”

Founded in 2015 by Rajiv Subramanian and Ashrujit Mohanty, EatFresh was an online marketplace offering different kinds of cuisines on a rotating menu prepared by top chefs in Chennai and Bangalore. Chennai-based Ubiquitous Foods operated the startup and had almost 50 outlets in the two South Indian cities. In December last year, EatFresh raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Kalaari Capital.

Rajiv Subramanian spoke with Inc42 and said, “As a company, we operate two brands Ovenfresh and Eatfresh, focussed on bakery products and meals, respectively. While both businesses have profitable unit economics, Ovenfresh generates units generate 40% EBITDA compared to 20% EBITDA at Eatfresh units. As a result, we have decided to focus our capital allocation towards the Ovenfresh brand which currently generates 90% of our revenues.”

While most food delivery services are shutting shop for good, this decision to stop the home delivery service and focus on party orders is a new and interesting change. In 2016 alone, there were multiple home delivery services that did not make it past the one year mark. The market is very competitive and when standing against the likes of Swiggy and Foodpanda and even Zomato’s online delivery service, it’s a tough market to break into.