Shantanu Deshpande, CEO of Bombay Shaving Company, expressed concerns about the ultra-fast food delivery industry in India. In a LinkedIn post, he urged delivery platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, and Zepto to prioritize food quality over speed, criticizing the trend of preparing meals in just two minutes and delivering them within eight. He emphasized that delivering palatable food is crucial for sustaining long-term business success.

He starts the post with: “‘Cook time 2 min, delivery time 8 min’, A ‘qcom for food’ founder told me this and I lost my mind. All the investors and founders are already finding fancy words for this to bake it into the next big wave of Indian commerce.”

Shantanu criticizes those unwilling to take even 15 minutes to cook simple meals like dal-chawal.

“Frozen purees and curries and old vegetables heated and garnished with dhaniya to look fresh and slammed in some 2 wheeler who rides like Mad Max to your door in 10 min cos you couldn’t wait another 15 min or you were too lazy to chadhao a cooker of daal chawal.” the post read.

Shantanu also condemned the health risks associated with palm oil and sugar, which are commonly used in ultra-processed foods of this kind.
“We are suffering from the biggest epidemic of poor nutrition and unhealthy processed and ultra processed food which is high on palm oil and sugar. Our grains have lost nutrition over last 50 years as we prioritized agricultural yield for nutrition.”

Deshpande highlights the direction of this approach, warning that it risks steering India toward emulating nations like China and the US without adequate economic support.
“Our junk food addiction, fuelled by 49 rs pizzas and 20 rs poison energy drinks and 30 rs burgers, is taking us down the path of China and US without the economic cover needed for health.” he wrote.

In his message, the CEO urged both the public and authorities to address this growing issue. He encouraged individuals to opt for home-cooked meals instead of relying on ultra-fast 10-minute food deliveries, highlighting the benefits of healthier and more mindful eating habits.

How Netizens Reacted

Social media users largely supported Deshpande’s concerns regarding the growing issue in India’s quick-commerce food delivery sector. While some echoed his views, others took more drastic measures, like deleting food delivery apps from their phones, instead of simply moderating their usage.