Food Network

Booked bookurtable.com
The latest to be launched in Mumbai is bookURtable,a Bengaluru-based company that allows consumers to reserve tables online and search by location,cuisine and time. The CEO of bookURtable,Thomas Daniel,says that as is in the US,there could be a market for this service in India too. “We plan to start our services in Mumbai in a month. Our main advantage for consumers is that it is convenient — you can book outside of restaurants opening hours,without requiring a telephone.” Daniel points out that it benefits restaurants too since the number of customers who do not honour their reservations is 20 per cent through the website rather than 40-50 per cent that restaurants,especially those not at the higher end,normally experience.

Menu junction foodiebay.com
Another model is that run by Foodiebay (foodiebay.com),a Delhi-based website that started in August 2009. Primarily a database of restaurant menus,it allows users to filter restaurants and then view menus (many of which have to be scanned). The aim is for consumers to decide where to go depending on what they want before leaving home. The website also incorporates user reviews,and is thus an opposite of sorts to Burrp,an online portal that focuses on consumer reviews with menus as an afterthought. When asked about online deliveries instead of simply providing information,Deepinder Goyal,director of Foodiebay,says,“We originally intended to be an online ordering portal,but it was too complex to manage that.”

At your doorstep foodkamood.com
Tanuj More,a former banker,though,has done just that with Food ka Mood,a website that has tied up with restaurants that already have home-delivery services. Launched in January,the website uniquely accepts online payment as well as the standard cash-on-delivery that other websites use. “Orders through credit cards account for around 25 per cent of our orders. We were surprised that this option was used by people outside Mumbai who wanted to have food delivered for relatives in the city,” More points out.

Online extensionmcdelivery.co.in,mealsonwheels.in
There has also been a recent spurt in websites branching out from existing business. McDonalds,the global fast-food chain,started mcdelivery.co.in at the end of March,and MealsOnWheels (mealsonwheels.in) started accepting online orders on April 1. Sunil Saraf,who founded the telephone-based home delivery service in 1997,resisted an online service till now as he thought people weren’t ready for it. “Based on customer feedback,though,we decided to launch the service; we expect it to overtake telephone orders in the future since this is more convenient,” says Saraf. Srikanth Batchu,associate at a private equity fund,used to be a telephone customer at MOW but has now converted to online orders. “I prefer ordering online because then I don’t have to repeat myself or be worried that I might have been misheard. It’s faster than ordering via telephone,but currently needs extra features.”

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