Online food delivery company Zomato, which recently launched ‘Intercity Legends’ through which customers can order delicacies from famous outlets and restaurants in other cities, said that this service will start making a profit even at a “slight scale’’ even though it is a logistical nightmare and a high cash burn model.

Zomato's VP of Global Growth Siddharth Jhawar told IANS that this is a business and they want to be profitable.

"Even at a slight scale, we'll start making a profit. As we grow and with awareness, when people start making our offering a part of their celebrations with larger orders, we'll be there," he said.

Jhawar explained how the freshly prepared food is being packed in reusable and tamper-proof containers to keep it safe during air transit which later can be microwaved, air fried, pan fried or even can consume just like any other dish out of the refrigerator.
 
"State-of-the-art mobile refrigeration technology preserves the food without the need to freeze it or add any kind of preservatives," he explained.

Currently, the "Intercity Legends" service operates in the Delhi-NCR region and launched it in Bengaluru as well serves Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Mathura, Chennai, Agra, and Bhubaneswar among other places.   Users will only be allowed to place orders for specific iconic items from a small number of chosen restaurants.

"Over time, we will keep taking inputs from customers and keep adding to our supply. We will ramp up gradually and have plans to extend this to top cities, as we receive customer feedback about what's working and what can be done better," Jhawar added.

Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal earlier said that the new service will let customers "order and relish legendary dishes like baked rosogollas from Kolkata, biryani from Hyderabad, Mysore Pak from Bengaluru, kebabs from Lucknow, butter chicken from Old Delhi, or pyaaz kachori from Jaipur".