Before the world as we knew it changed in March 2020, areas like Thane, Vashi or Colaba were almost out of bounds for deliveries for Bandra-based Thai-Japanese restaurant Seefah. Recalling those early days of the lockdown, chef-restaurateur Seefah Ketchaiyo shares that once food deliveries were permitted, requests for orders started pouring in from far-off corners. Up until then, Ketchaiyo’s famous katsu burger, tenderloin salad and honey toast had only been ferried by food aggregator apps like Zomato or Swiggy inside a fixed delivery radius. “With delivery apps such as WeFast, ShadowFax or Dunzo coming into the picture, we realised we could send our food to far-flung locations and literally everywhere. It became a big market for a small business,” she says, adding it nudged her to explore direct order and delivery as a viable alternative.

As dining-in kept hitting pause and play amid waves of pandemic-induced restrictions, delivery became the norm. But facing the heat of losses, increased competition and a slew of steep charges levied by food aggregator apps, F&B players have been answering the call of #orderdirect, including The Table, Woodside Inn, The Bombay Canteen, Social, along with neighbourhood joints such as Cafe IDlish, Jimmy Boy and The Bagel Shop, cloud kitchens like Nair on Fire, and bakeries like Knead by Moshe Shek and Ode to Gaia. Last year, the National Restaurant Association of India even organised a boot camp to help restaurants set up their own order and delivery systems to break the duopoly of Swiggy and Zomato.