The online food delivery business central, Swiggy, has announced to close its Scootsy business. The decision was made as the company has seen a surge in demand for curated food choices from premium brands like leading hotels including ITC Marriott and Hyatt among others.
Scootsy was acquired by Swiggy in 2018, to consolidate its operations in the premium food-delivery category.
Scootsy has played an instrumental part in expanding the comfort of fine dining or gourmet affairs right at the customer’s doorstep. “To expand our footprint to all discerning customers across Mumbai, we will be transitioning the services offered by Scootsy to Swiggy’s platforms in the near future. This will be the first major milestone in setting up the premium category for Swiggy,” said a Swiggy spokesperson.
“We are constantly adapting to the rapidly changing needs of our consumers and the industry by fine-tuning our services. Back in 2018, we acquired Scootsy, an independent delivery platform offering quality experiences to discerning customers from a curated list of restaurants such as Masque, Nara Thai, Royal China, Trattoria, gourmet food stores and bakeries in Mumbai,” he added.
Over the past few months, Swiggy has been directing on premium ‘curated’ food deliveries for customers and has banded with hotel groups–ITC Hotels, Marriott, Hyatt, KA Hospitality and the likes–to upgrade average order value on its platform, as it looks to reap more from high-ticket size orders.
“In line with this, all Scootsy customers will be redirected to a curated selection on the Swiggy app where they can experience the same level of service along with the widest choice of cuisines and restaurants supported by Swiggy’s lightning-fast delivery,” the Swiggy spokesperson further explained.
Although Scootsy only operated in Mumbai, Swiggy’s prioritisation for premium will be national. The company has already listed a buckle of restaurants and hotel kitchens on its app under its premium dining tab.
While the delivery line will be consumed by Swiggy, it is still skeptical whether the food tech unicorn will absorb Scootsy’s employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely harmed India’s hospitality industry. This has led to job losses and the closure of businesses. In the case of Swiggy too, which has seen an uptick in big hotels seeking its food delivery platforms to reach their customers, there has been a consolidation of its service business.