Online food ordering platform TinyOwl has “temporarily discontinued” its services in all cities except Mumbai starting Sunday, the company informed through a service update on its app.
“We have closed services temporarily except in some localities in Mumbai and will be re-launching soon with full delivery experience,” said Harshvardhan Mandad, co-founder of TinyOwl.
The firm, which has witnessed a lot of turmoil since the end of last year, was previously operational in cities like Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Lucknow and Chandigarh. The app currently shows a message below each restaurant listing in Bengaluru that states: temporarily closed for service improvement.
“We are working on improving our delivery experience and will be temporarily discontinuing our services in some localities. It has been a difficult decision for us and we are committed to returning with an even better product for you,” the firm said in its update.
The Mumbai-based startup said the service would now be operational in select localities in Mumbai including Churchgate, Colaba, Lower Parel, Mahim, Marine Lines, Matunga East, Mumbai Central, Worli and Nariman Point among others.
TinyOwl, however, said it was retaining the user data to help them order after the company restarts its services in future. In November 2015, TinyOwl had shut down operations in Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai. Its co-founder, Gaurav Choudhary, was held hostage by the firm’s Pune employees. The company had laid off over 100 employees in the same month, its second round of layoffs, after firing 160 employees in August. The firm said the move was aimed at increasing efficiency and productivity.
Mr. Mandad said the move was also part of the firm’s plan to merge with hyperlocal logistics player Roadrunnr with plans to operate as a combined entity. The new entity will focus only on food delivery in the beginning and look to unveil a full-fledged service. According to a report by Kotak Institutional Equities, the food delivery and takeaway market in India was estimated at $12.8 billion in 2014, but the online food delivery market size is only around $95 million or 0.7 per cent of that.
In November 2015, TinyOwl had shut down operations in Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Chennai
