Fast food delivery startup Swish pilots Swish Go to compete with Zomato and Swiggy

Indian quick food delivery startup Swish has launched a pilot for its new service, Swish Go, expanding its offerings into a more conventional food delivery model. The new service allows customers to order food from external third-party restaurants and cloud kitchens, directly challenging established players like Zomato and Swiggy.

Swish Go is currently being piloted in select pin codes within Bengaluru. The service is advertised as having no packaging or platform fees. Swish has onboarded several quick-service restaurant brands, including Nothing Before Coffee, Mealy, and Taaka Chinese, for the Go service. This represents a shift for the two-year-old startup, which previously focused solely on deliveries from its own vertically integrated kitchens.

The new service will not offer Swish's signature 15-minute delivery promise, with orders on Swish Go expected to take longer. This positions Swish Go in direct competition with Swiggy's Toing and mobility startup Rapido's Ownly, both of which are also aiming to make online food delivery more affordable.

Recent challenges in the ultra-fast food delivery sector, including Swiggy's discontinuation of its 15-minute delivery app SNACC and the closure of Zing, highlight the difficulties in the market. Swish has previously banked on its differentiated, vertically integrated model to succeed where others have faltered. With Swish Go, the company is now attempting to capture new market share by focusing on low and transparent pricing.