Just Dial enters online food ordering space across 14 cities [Existing online food ordering players will feel the heat?]

Local business listing site Justdial.com has added food ordering service to its platform, which lets users find and discover restaurants having home delivery service in 15 cities. It allows users to browse through the restaurants' menus which are on the Just Dial website and then directly order food online instead of approaching the restaurant.Currently, the Mumbai based company offers food over 20 categories including dosa, pizzas, tawa, Punjabi with others. The minimum order cap for home delivery is Rs 150 (which is quite reasonable). According to Just Dial website, it doesn't charge anything for delivery. However, its not clear whether company will use its own last mile delivery network or third party.

How does it work?

After placing the order, with priorities like date and delivery slot, consumer receives the order summary in the form of an SMS/Email and the delivery is done at the customer's desired location. Restaurant and food joint owners can list their offering, upload photos and edit their menu after entering registered credentials. Similar to other verticals, restaurants can also avail premium listing by paying listing fee to Just Dial.

Founded by VSS Mani in 1994, Just Dial recently went for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and has more than 28 million user generated reviews and ratings. The platform’s search service has been available to users via multiple media, including Internet, mobile, voice call, and SMS. At present, the website claims to list restaurants with home delivery service across 15 cities including Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai.

Who will feel the heat?

By launching such service, Just Dial will compete with platforms like Justeat.in, Rocket Internet backed Foodpanda and Pune-based Tastykhana. Given the credibility, brand recognition and reach of Just Dial, the above players will feel the heat. Also, the online food ordering audience base is more or less the same (gaining ground gradually), so it's likely that Just Dial will eat their market share.

After getting into this, what next from Just Dial? Maybe, soon, you will order groceries and sabji, milk and movie tickets, too?