Can Blinkit—Grofers' new avatar and Albinder Dhindsa's 10-minute delivery act—help Deepinder Goyal add more muscle in Zomato's hyperlocal fight against loaded rival Swiggy, aggressive Dunzo and a bunch of upstarts?
(Left)Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato and Albinder Dhindsa, Founder, Blinkit
Image: Amit Verma
“Thirty is not quick. 10 is quick,” Deepinder Goyal asserts in the blink of an eye. It’s a bright sunny day before Christmas Eve. The expansive corporate headquarters of Zomato in Sector 43 on the Golf Course Road in Gurugram is decked up with festive red and the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the online foodtech firm walks in at 1.30 pm. “I hope you didn’t find much traffic,” smiles Goyal, as he pulls a chair at the empty back porch of the building. “Over 70 percent of the time I sit on these chairs,” he continues as he sanitises his hands, lights up a cigarette, and pours a glass of fruit juice.
Though it’s lunch time, the office wears a subdued look as employees have been working from home. A huge yellow hoarding announcing ‘Grofers is now Blinkit’ does its best to brighten up the mood as Goyal sets the tone for an animated conversation around quick commerce. “Thirty minutes is neither here nor there,” he says, alluding to the delivery time of some of Grofers’ rivals in the segment. “Swiggy is still not doing instant commerce,” he reckons. Blinkit, in which Zomato is a minority investor, delivers in 10 minutes. “Only 10 minutes make sense,” he says.