A Review Study on Foodtech Industry and Its Impact on Restaurant Business

Abstract

The entertainment, food, travel and hospitality industry has seen several disruptive changes over the few years. Foodtech industry has seen a rapid yet constant growth over the past few years as a result of technology advancement and fast lifestyles of the modern consumer. Earlier, the concept of ‘eating out’ was confined to the upper middle class and the upper-class categories of consumers belonging to the metro cities. Eating from out was a phenomenon associated with holidays, Sundays and special occasions. However, the scenario soon changed, with customers preferring to eat food from ‘outside’ regularly, more so out of convenience and awareness. With India being a relatively young country, the youth of today are highly aware of multifarious cuisines and types of food due to the social media boom and easy access to speciality restaurants serving such food. Furthermore, technology has led to springing up of foodtech apps like Swiggy and Zomato which enable ordering food from within the confines of the home or office without having to move out. Several literatures highlight the determinants of consumer adoption of online platforms for food ordering such as ease of use, convenience, door to door deliver, discounts and offers and variety of restaurants. Moreover, these applications have made the consumer experience more effective by providing a highly responsive customer relationship management services and real time handling of customer requirements. The current study focusses on consolidating several literatures on the status of online food services in India and their effects on restaurant business. The study also has provided suggestions to restaurants to optimise their business using these apps.