KOCHI: Rezoy, the food delivery app developed by the hoteliers in Kerala as an alternative to Zomato and Swiggy , may get a new lease of life with the promoters planning to invest Rs 100 crore in the now defunct company.
KHRA is trying to re-launch the app and the existing promoters have agreed to invest Rs 100 crore. “We hope that the platform will be online in a couple of weeks,” TJ Manohar, President, Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association(KHRA), Ernakulam told TNIE.
The food delivery service was the brainchild of the KHRA, the association of restaurateurs, hoteliers, cafe and bakery owners in the state numbering over 35,000, after they felt that the pan-Indian food delivery platforms were taking huge commissions.Dubai-based Indo-Gulf Company took a majority stake in the platform three months after it was launched in June,2021.
India’s food delivery sector is seen growing robustly with the increase in the young and the working population.
Meanwhile leading food delivery platforms are valued in billions based on the huge demographic dividends expected from the Indian market but are currently in the red and burning cash to stay competitive.
Rezoy ran into financial issues some months after the new promoters took over and they found it difficult to operate due to the low orders and eventually it closed down, Manohar said. According to KHRA sources the app had a peak download of 50,000 and the daily orders in the platform averaged 3,000.
“If the app becomes operational, people can get food delivered at a lesser cost compared to the existing platforms.While the other food delivery apps charge between 30 and 40%, Rezoy charges only about 10%.We already have an MOU with the company. Our goal is to deliver the food without charging excessive fees. We hope the company can re-launch the app within a few weeks,” said Jayapal, G, State president, KHRA, KHRA sources told TNIE that the new promoters mismanaged the platform against the advise of the association.
“There was a clear instruction to the company to run the business only in Ernakulam. But, they expanded it to Thrissur and Malappuram and that became a financial burden. And they expected funding from external sources which did not materialise. If they could have run it properly, it might have been a huge success when Swiggy and Zomato workers went on indefinite strike,” sources added. Though TNIE tried to reach the Indo-Gulf Company, they were not ready to comment on the development.