Picking a Delivery Platform for a New Restaurant: Zomato vs. Swiggy
Company: Swiggy
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product / Decision Making
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are opening a new restaurant in India and need to decide whether to list it on Zomato or on Swiggy, the country's two largest food-delivery apps. How would you make that decision? Explain what you would compare, how you would gather the evidence, and how you would reach a recommendation.
```hint Judge each app from your own address
National user numbers and headline commission rates say little about how either app will perform for your cuisine, price point and delivery area. Work out what drives a restaurant's profit on a delivery app, then check each of those drivers locally.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is listing on both apps an option, or must the choice be exclusive, for example because one platform offers better terms for exclusivity?
- What kind of restaurant is it (cuisine, price point, delivery-only or also dine-in), and in which city and neighborhood?
- What matters most to the owner in the first months: order volume, profit per order, or building a brand that customers order from directly?
- Can the kitchen and staff handle orders arriving from two apps at once?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- The restaurant's own goals and constraints stated first, since they change which platform wins
- Local demand on each app: customers within the delivery radius, demand for the cuisine and price point, and how crowded the category is
- Economics per order: commission and fees, expected discount and advertising spend, payout timing, and the resulting contribution
- Operational fit: onboarding effort, delivery reliability in the area, merchant tools and support, and contract terms
- A decision method, such as a weighted scorecard or a trial on both apps, with a plan to revisit the choice using real order data
### Follow-up Questions
- One app offers a lower commission if you list only with it. How do you decide whether exclusivity is worth it?
- A few months after launch, orders are steady but margins are thin. What data do you examine before switching apps or adding the other one?
- How would your recommendation change for a premium dine-in restaurant compared with a delivery-only kitchen?
Overview: A product decision prompt in which a new restaurant owner must choose between listing on Zomato or Swiggy. It tests how you set the owner's goals, compare local demand, per-order economics and delivery operations on each app, and turn the evidence into a recommendation you can defend.