BOLT launches food delivery service in India as a sustainable alternative for high commissioned aggregators

With razor-thin margins and high dependency on delivery (aggregators take 25% cut), the only way out for many small businesses like restaurants, today, is a shutdown. To solve this, a first-of-its-kind, NO commission delivery service, BOLT is launching in India. Bolt founders, having worked in the restaurant industry, want to give the control back to the local businesses. With sustainability at its core, BOLT wants to make delivery a profitable part of all local businesses. One of the founders of BOLT said, “When customers order through BOLT, it doesn’t mean that they are ordering from BOLT. Rather, it’s directly from the store that they’d be ordering as stores have complete access to their customer data which is highly uncommon with the current aggregator platforms”. BOLT charges a fixed fee instead of % based commission per order to enable delivery for any store. This will be a steep cut for restaurants w.r.t. 15–30% commissions that they are paying the aggregators currently. With over 30% of restaurants being on the verge of closure because of the current crisis, this could be the difference between survival and closure. The founders say, “We are here to help as many businesses as possible to self-sustain during the pandemic and get rid of the clutches of commission squeezing aggregators. Just before we sign off, it’s worthwhile to mention that 1500+ restaurants and stores are already on this mission with us.” BOLT founders are on a mission to make delivery great again. BOLT has launched in Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore this week. http://getbolt.in lists stores ranging from restaurants to grocery stores to COVID essentials. Over the next 3 months, BOLT is launching in multiple cities across India.