81% Indian consumers order food through delivery apps due to convenience, says survey

NEW DELHI: Nearly 81% of consumers who order food via delivery apps say they do it for convenience, according to a survey by social engagement platform LocalCircles. Another 14% said it was due to discounts provided by these apps, while 5% for better selection.

While food delivery apps have expanded in cities across India and brought thousands of restaurants online, their rapid growth has also raised concerns over food quality, hygiene and packaging. “Over the last several months, the food, consumer and standards communities on LocalCircles have been seeing a steady flow of complaints about quality of food delivered by the food apps,” LocalCircles said in a statement. The survey had over 27,000 respondents from over 218 districts of India.

Yet, quality was the top concern for as many as 66% consumers ordering food through delivery, with another 22% saying it was timeliness of delivery and 12% voting for overcharging. When questioned on food quality, 70% respondents said that the quality of food deteriorated due to packaging and transportation, while 30% felt that it was the same as eating at the restaurant.

Consumers also reported problems with billing and missing food items. Around 27% consumers found the packaging of the food to be unsatisfactory. Nearly a third (34%) of respondents also said that there were cases of a few items missing when their food was delivery. When it came to billing, 22% said they found it to be inaccurate, while 68% said they were accurate.

Regarding the timeliness of food delivery, 83% said their food was delivered within an hour, and just 17% said it gets delayed. When asked about delivery persons, nearly 85% said that delivery personnel were well-behaved and service-oriented.

Last year, food delivery companies Zomato, Swiggy, UberEats and Foodpanda started delisting restaurants that did not have a license from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and had reportedly delisted over 10,500 restaurants by December.

“Overall, the consumer survey does point to the fact that consumers are happy with the service provided by these food apps and sites, but want food quality and food packaging to be addressed,” LocalCircles said in its statement. “The food regulator of India, FSSAI can play an important role by ensuring only FSSAI approved and audited restaurants are allowed to be listed on the food delivery apps.”