Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the men’s grooming brand Bombay Shaving Company, Shantanu Deshpande has raised concerns over India’s quick food delivery industry
In a Linkedin post on Sunday, Deshpande highlighted that the nation has been suffering from the “biggest epidemic” of poor nutrition and unhealthy processed and ultra processed food which is high on palm oil and sugar, and urged food delivery platforms to make the product palatable.
“Frozen purees and curries and old vegetables heated and garnished with dhaniya to look fresh and slammed in some 2 wheeler who rides like Mad Max to your door in 10 min cos you couldn’t wait another 15 min or you were too lazy to chadhao a cooker of daal chawal,” said the startup founder and CEO.
In his post, Deshpande cited a conversation with another fellow founder of a quick commerce for food brand and expressed his shock at the cooking and delivery time involved in the process.
“Cook time 2 min, delivery time 8 min. A ‘qcom for food’ founder told me this and I lost my mind,” said Deshpande in his post on LinkedIn.
Along with the larger picture, Deshpande also focused on the direction of this approach, which is steering India to become another US or China without enough economic backing.
“Our junk food addiction, fuelled by 49 rs pizzas and 20 rs poison energy drinks and 30 rs burgers, is taking us down the path of China and US without the economic cover needed for health,” said Deshpande in his post.
Shantanu Deshpande also cautioned investors and founders about the issue and directed them to make sure the food is “palatable.”
“And all the investors and founders are already finding fancy words for this to bake it into the next big wave of Indian commerce. Zomato and Swiggy and Zepto – please, dont. And if you are so keen, please make the product palatable,” said Deshpande.
The founder and CEO also addressed the post to the people and regulators to keep an eye out for this issue. He also advised the people to cook instead of ordering the 10-minute food delivery.
“I would LOVE if we innovate and are able to actually give non-stale and decent food in 10 min. Massive unlock. But I don’t think we’re close to there yet. Regulators – please keep eye,” he said. “Most of all, everyone else – please cook. It’s an adult skill. No one is too busy to take 10 min out to put a decent dal Chawal or smoothie or salad or sandwich together.”
Advising people to cook their meals, Deshpande also highlighted that ordering from outside “can power some wild long-term health issues if uncontrolled.”
“The gut is the epicentre of your existence. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT,” he said in his post.
Netizen React
The people on social media responded to Deshpande’s concern agreeing with the issue looming over the Indian quick commerce food delivery market. Some agreed with the founder other cited extreme steps of deleting the food delivery applications form their phones rather than exercising control.
“A very valid and simple point that needs to be echoed Shantanu Deshpande . We are all being fooled in the mask of convenience. I can recall words by my grandmother who used to say ‘Jaldi ka kaam shaitan ka hota hai’ and I couldn’t agree more to it. Convenience food = Bad Health,” said Shreshtha Gupta, business strategy consultant at Accenture, responding to the post.
Others like Jaikishan Bhatia, manager at Cipla said, “We need a regulatory authority, perhaps under the Ministry of Health, to monitor the quality of food. Quick delivery isn’t the problem, compromised food quality is. Let them deliver in 10 minutes, but ensure the food preparation itself takes adequate time. Separate ‘preparation time’ from ‘delivery time.’ This way, these startups can still chase their 10 minute delivery dreams without compromising public health. After all, if they’re solely focused on speed, let’s ensure the food they deliver is atleast worth eating.”
