How To Sell Homemade Food Online Using Zomato And Swiggy?

Even before CoVid-19 pandemic came into existence, there used to be a group of budding entrepreneurs who wanted to cook home-made food and sell it to their beloved customers. A handful few in your network might have managed to sell their food online. But the only question that many other people came across was how can they set up a food business from home and sell it on food aggregators like Zomato and Swiggy? The answer is not that difficult. Let us explain further –

One of the many questions that people feel whether it is legal to sell homemade food online? The answer is, yes! You can sell food online. About legalities, you need a FSSAI registration for selling food online. If you are wondering why we need to register with FSSAI for selling food even if it is cooked at home, it is because of the Food Safety and Security Act, 2006. The license criteria is based on the annual turnover of the business. If your business has an annual turnover of Rs. 12 lacs and lesser, you will just need a registration for a fee of Rs. 100 per annum. If the turnover is above 12 Lacs, you will need to have a state license with a fee of Rs. 2000 per annum. 

You can read more in this PDF file from FSSAI: Business Eligibility

You can also check out how to register with FSSAI.

If you need assistance, our team can help you in the process of registration. Please contact us at hello@getmarketingfit.com

A point to note is that food delivery platforms like Zomato and Swiggy will require FSSAI license from you for listing your business on their platforms. This is a government mandated requirement.

Now the big question: How to sell home cooked food online?

I am pretty sure you might have come to this page after doing your fair share of research and also, you might have fixed the food items to sell online. So, you can start with one of three channels or all the three channels: Sell on Zomato, Swiggy or through WhatsApp.

The people who run a food business are called Food Business Operators, and every FBO needs to have some of these documents (some of them are mandatory) for running a business.

Some general requirements for FBOs :

• FSSAI/ Food License
• Health Trade License from your local municipal office
• Shop & Establishments as per your state requirements
• GST registration
• Fire Department NOC, etc.

Check specific business requirements from the delivery partners below.

How to sell my homemade food on Zomato?

What better way to sell your heart-filled product on one of the highly acclaimed food delivery partners, Zomato! The food delivery giant which acquired another prominent business Uber Eats can be your choice of delivery partner. The process of registering your business for home cooked delicacies on Zomato is not that difficult. You can sell it as an individual business from home or you can sell it as a cloud kitchen.

You need to register with the following documents on Zomato:

1. FSSAI certificate (application no. if FSSAI is not present)
2. PAN Card
3. GST certificate (if applicable)
4. Current/ Savings Bank account details (Account Number, IFSC details etc.)

Once you have kept the documents ready, register your business by clicking ‘Register your restaurant’ at this page: Add a restaurant – Zomato

Remember that creating a page on Zomato is free,  but they charge commissions from orders that you receive from your customers. Besides, the average order value for the food to be delivered free on Zomato is generally more than Rs. 250. Once you register, you can manage all your orders on their restaurant partner mobile app and restaurant partner desktop app.

I have known owners who have praised Zomato for their customer support while listing their businesses.

How to register on Swiggy for homemade food?

If you are registering on Zomato, why not try Swiggy too? Swiggy is one of the neck-throat competitors in the food delivery partners business. There are loyal fan-base for both these apps and you should definitely register your business with Swiggy.

Keep the following documents ready before you start registering with Swiggy:

• FSSAI License copy
• Aadhar copy (for KYC)
• Your Restaurant Menu
• Bank Details
• GSTIN (optional)
• PAN card copy
• Cancelled Cheque
• Business location details

Once you have all the documents set and ready, go to Sign Up screen at : Partner With Us – Swiggy

Remember that there is a one-time onboarding fee which is taken from your weekly payouts when you start receiving orders on Swiggy. The commission fees vary from city-to-city and you will be shown the fees during the registration process after completion of some steps. Basically it can vary from 4% to 25% on various factors. It takes upto 7 – 10 business working days for Swiggy to get your business live on their platform. As a business partner, you also have to finish watching their tutorial videos on how their app interface works.

If you want to reach their customer support, give a call on 080-67466777/68179777 or write to their email support at – partnersuport@swiggy.in

What about WhatsApp? Can we sell homemade food through WhatsApp?

Yes, WhatsApp being the most easy way to interact with a customer, has been the most common way to get customers for homemade food business owners. I have personally witnessed businesses running on WhatsApp delivering a multitude of dishes and sometimes preparing special dishes on special holidays. The one-on-one correspondence makes WhatsApp the best way to get feedback from your customers. The Business WhatsApp App offers more than the normal WhatsApp App. You can register your number on the Business Whatsapp and create catalogues (menus) for your homemade dishes.

Some big advantages are that you can keep WhatsApp stories to show your cooked meals and show important notifications, accept payment through WhatsApp pay which is an in-app payment feature, display menu and contact customers directly for any change in the orders. One way that I observed from seasoned food business owners was that they kept the available food items menu as their stories and communicated through WhatsApp Status about the dishes that were available or not available. This used to be done daily and when the business ran low, they used to directly approach the customers to order soon. Not only that, a dedicated group used to be active for that business that used to inform all the customers about the current statuses of their business and the orders were taken from there as well. This acted as a social proof and an assurance for others who might be hesitating to buy items from that business.