Rapido is set to roll out a pilot of its food delivery service, Ownly, in Bengaluru over the next 8-10 days starting with Koramangala, HSR, and Sarjapur localities. The company plans to scale the offering to ten cities over the next year.

The aim is not to hurry the growth. the original strategy was to execute a larger launch in August, but now a smaller trial will be introduced in July, providing valuable insights. Initially, the emphasis for the first two to three months will be on Bengaluru, then expanding to two or three additional cities in September or October, aiming to reach a total of 10 cities by next July.

Rapido launched its food delivery service on March 12. The firm intends to challenge established players Zomato and Swiggy by seeking to mimic its achievements from the ride-hailing industry, where it has impacted the Uber-Ola duopoly. The firm, supported by investors such as Prosus, Nexus Venture Partners, and WestBridge Capital, is anticipated to impose commissions between 8-15 percent on restaurants, unlike the 16-30% fees charged by Zomato and Swiggy.

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Rapido is currently working to establish a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with restaurant associations, detailing shared expectations in advance of the launch.

Restaurants are advocating for access to customer data, a collective request that they have not successfully presented to Zomato and Swiggy. In exchange, Rapido requests restaurants to ensure the lowest pricing at the cart level on Ownly across different platforms, while steering clear of high packaging fees.

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With Zomato and Swiggy, there were specific terms that were not settled at the outset, and circumstances developed in a particular way. With Rapido, the goal is to ensure that restaurants are viewed as essential stakeholders from the very beginning. A structure is being established to guarantee several factors…Rapido intends not to impose a platform fee, but should it do so, it must not surpass a specific limit. They have mentioned that they are focusing on sharing customer data.