Online platforms are on the rise and have been mediating labor markets globally. They are multiplying throughout the United States of America (USA), Europe, the Middle-east, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Key examples include Amazon, Etsy, Uber. The algorithmic underpinning of online activity is most evident among all of these examples.
In Nepal’s context, a platform-based economy is relatively a new form of organizing work. Some key platforms include Foodmandu (food-delivery), Tootle (ride-sharing), Pathao (ridesharing), Khalti, iPay, and Esewa (online-payment), Aayoexpress (on-demand delivery), Chamkilo (laundry service). These platforms are at the most a decade old. Among these e-commerce platforms, we’ll be discussing about ‘Foodmandu’ in this article.
Foodmandu is an on-demand food delivery company, one of the biggest and most popular e-commerce start-ups based in Nepal. It has been providing its food delivery services in cities like Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur since its initiation. Today, Foodmandu is a pioneer food delivery service providing that delivers fresh and delicious food from hundreds of popular restaurants across the nation.
Foodmandu was established in the year 2010 with the same aim of delivering foods on-demand to customers from their favorite restaurants. Foodmandu is basically comprised of two words i.e. Food and Kathmandu. Food, being its core service sector, and Kathmandu, the city/area where it was first initiated.
It has come a long way since its inception, making a significant impact in the restaurant/food industry. Because of its immense delivery services, it is considered one of the key contributors to the overall development of Nepal’s e-commerce sector.
Foodmandu is Nepals’ first and most popular food delivery company serving from over 800 restaurants to its huge customer base across the nation. Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Kirtipur, Bhaktapur, and Pokhara are among the major cities where Foodmandu is in huge demand and popularity. Along with food delivery, Foodmandu also provides grocery and beverage delivery services through its separate verticals Foodmandu Fresh and Foodmandu Bar.
Using its website and social media platforms, Foodmandu delivers foods upon order from popular restaurants in Kathmandu at consumers’ doorstep. Its marketing strategy has attracted many other start-up companies and ventures led by youth entrepreneurs. Also, it has been registered as ‘Foodmandu Pvt. Ltd.’ in Nepal and operates efficiently following the guidelines as stated by the Company Act of Nepal 2063.
On their official site, the following statement was stated: “We know that your time is valuable and sometimes every minute in the day counts. That’s why we deliver! So you can spend more time doing the things you love. You can get anything from Indian food to high French cuisine by placing a simple order online through our website, mobile app, or over the phone. Then just sit back, relax, and wait for your order to arrive.”
Foodmandu has many quality-oriented and dedicated employees as a part of its management, always in a quest to make the platform more user-friendly and convenient. Its board of directors encompasses experienced personnel who have in-depth knowledge and skills regarding their respective fields. Some of its executives are:
- Manohar Adhikar – Founder at Foodmandu
- Adarsh Das – Chief Executive Officer at Foodmandu
- Nidhi Vyas – Finance Manager at Foodmandu
I’m extremely sorry if I missed your name on the list. Additionally, they conduct various internal events to encourage their employees and tell them that they matter. One such event is ‘Employee Of The Month’.
As per this event, they look into the employees’ work profile for the month and reward the best performing employee of the month. These small steps are what that make the company and management more dedicated and worth working for.
The launch of Foodmandu in 2010 – an app that allows one to choose food from over 150 restaurants in Kathmandu and delivers them at the doorstep within 30 minutes to one hour, has changed the way of doing business only in a conventional manner in Nepal. It has grown from a start-up consisting of very few employees to being one of the most valuable ones serving millions of customers nationwide.
As per reports, it is estimated that the net worth of Foodmandu is about $25 Million. Since their coverage is limited, they are unable to generate huge turnovers. Yet, they do generate an estimated yearly revenue of around $2 Million which is not that bad as well.
Keep in mind that these numbers are estimations only and may be different from the factual data. They might have much more than these and are keeping the accounting statements confidential since the company is still private.
Since Foodmandu is a food delivery service, using its service is really simple. Want to order food to your doorstep using their service? You can follow these simple steps to do so:
- Open Foodmandu app or website.
- Login to your account or create one. It’s really simple.
- Choose the restaurant you want to order food from.
- Select the food that you would like to order. There are varieties of food available on the restaurants’ menu.
- Fill in your details. This includes your delivery address, contact info, and date and time for delivery.
- Now, receive your order and enjoy your food.
Things to be noted: You can pay for the order either physically or digitally. This means that you can either pay for the food using digital transactions or cash on delivery. The pricing and rates of food items shown on the platform are the same as the ones on the restaurants’ official menu. Employees at Foodmandu never fail to deliver your delicious food ASAP and in fresh condition. In case of any inconvenience, you can talk about it with the management through their customer service feature.
Additionally, for any more queries regarding their management or how they operate, you can check out their FAQs section on their site. As far as I know, their service rate is from Rs. 50 up to Rs.100 depending upon the location and requirements. For most deliveries, it takes about 45 minutes up to an hour depending upon the location of delivery.
To be honest, Foodmandu is one of those pioneer companies that withhold immense opportunities in its journey. Though the company has completed its 10 years of establishment, it still has a long way to go. Recently, they signed an MoU for an investment of approximately $4 million (NPR 46 Cr) with Dolma Impact Fund. Foodmandu aims to use these funds to advance existing technologies and develop human resource capabilities and aims to create and sustain thousands of jobs in Nepal over the next 5 years.
Here are some of the references that I used while writing this article. You can visit the sites if you want to:
Anyways, I hope that you got what you were looking for and see you in the next article.
Best Regards!!
