Quick and furious: Zomato and Blinkit's quick commerce play
Think instant and you'll think noodles, but it all started with coffee in 1901, and now we're in a market that expects everything at the snap of a finger, whether it's food, groceries, cigarettes, or more. Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal believes he's got it figured out with Blinkit
Think ‘instant’ and, in the Indian context, the immediate imagery that comes to mind is a moving picture of noodles, burgers, fried chicken, pizza delivery—and, away from food, an adhesive that holds the promise of sticking things in the snap of a finger.
It may have all started with coffee, though, with the quest for an instant, or soluble, variety. The British apparently granted the first patent to a ‘coffee compound’ in the 1770s and the Americans resorted to instant coffee ‘cakes’ during the Civil War. But it was a Japanese chemist in Chicago, Illinois, who is credited with developing stable soluble coffee powder, to which one just had to add water. That was in 1901 and, by the end of the decade, mass production had begun.
Over the century that followed, a lot more took the instant route—not just bun, patty and fries but, with it, gratification, consumerism and, as John Lennon reminded us, karma. Meanwhile, the instant F&B trolley rolled on, with everything from baby food, powdered eggs (fully dehydrated), soups and gravy to milk tea and juices
finding takers.
Circa 2020, and instant grocery is par for the course. The bar has since been raised to quicken the pace of delivering it at your doorstep. Home delivery got a boost during the pandemic-induced lockdowns, as online grocery firms focussed on bringing home the weekly or monthly essentials—vegetables, meats, pulses, cereals, cooking oils, ketchup and the like. If you ordered by morning, and got your stuff by end of day, both online grocer and consumer were happy.
(This story appears in the 28 January, 2022 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
