Suniel Shetty Invests in and Becomes Brand Ambassador for Waayu Food Delivery App
Waayu, a newly launched food delivery app, has announced that Suniel Shetty, the Indian film actor, has become an investor in and brand ambassador for the company. The aim of the app is to provide affordable and timely food to customers in hotels and restaurants in Mumbai, where it started its services. The app is 15% to 20% less expensive than other food delivery services like Swiggy or Zomato, and it addresses the issues that persist with online food delivery services, including high commissions, unfair rankings, and bad reviews.
Anirudha Kotgire and Mandar Lande of Destek HORECA founded Waayu to help hotels and restaurants to log orders for food delivery without any commission. The app is backed by the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR), and it has already onboarded over 1,000 restaurants across the city. The cost of the app is Rs. 1,000 per month, which will later increase to Rs. 2,000. The team plans to expand the services to other cities and connect with the government-backed platform Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in the future.
According to Kotgire, “WAAYU app will transform the online food delivery industry by embracing a commission-free model. We have 16 revenue streams, but not all will kick in from the beginning. There is no per-order commission.”
The Waayu app is available in two versions: Waayu Delivery Partner for delivery executives and Waayu for customers. Customers can download the app from the Google Play Store or visit the website waayu.app on a browser, sign up using their phone number or email address, enter their location, browse through the restaurants and menus, select the dishes they want to order, add them to the cart, and proceed to checkout. Customers can pay the bill online or choose cash on delivery, confirm the order, and wait for the confirmation message from the restaurant. Customers can also track their order status on the app or website.
Shetty has already invested in several startups in the past, including a fitness startup Aquatein, where he invested an undisclosed sum last year in February.
