Ola pauses food delivery business, pulls Foods from app

Ola's latest food delivery attempt began in September 2023 wherein it joined the government-backed ONDC to provide food delivery services on its flagship ride-hailing app.

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola Consumer has paused operations of Ola Foods, people familiar with the matter told Moneycontrol, with the service disappearing from the ride-hailing app in recent days.

The cloud-kitchen business, which also operated through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), is not accepting orders, indicating a wider shutdown across both channels.

"The operations are temporarily paused. The company is re-evaluating plans and working on the business plan," a source told Moneycontrol.

It is unclear whether Ola plans to restart Ola Foods or exit the category altogether. Ola Consumer is yet to respond to Moneycontrol's queries. The story will be updated once the company responds.

The development comes at a time when the SoftBank-backed company is re-evaluating non-core businesses amid an ongoing restructuring of its portfolio. Industry executives told Moneycontrol that the company has “paused operations” and put most activities on hold.

In the past two years, Ola has wound down or shrunk several experiments outside its mobility business, including used cars and quick commerce pilots under Ola Cars and Ola Dash names.

Ola's food delivery woes

Over the years, Ola made several attempts at food delivery, starting in 2015. In 2019, it started Ola Foods as a cloud-kitchen venture with in-house brands and delivery through Ola’s logistics network.

The company's latest attempt began in September 2023 when it joined the government-backed ONDC to provide food delivery services on its flagship ride-hailing app. The Bengaluru-based firm expanded the food delivery service to 100 cities in December 2024.

Ola also scaled the model on ONDC over the past year to widen distribution without relying solely on its own app. However, order volumes on the network remained limited, sources close to the operations told Moneycontrol.

India's food-delivery and cloud-kitchen space continues to be dominated by Swiggy, Zomato and an expanding set of ONDC sellers, making it difficult for smaller or non-focused players to sustain operations.

The pause also comes at a time when competition in the segment is intensifying with the entry of ride-hailing platform Rapido which launched a standalone food delivery app Ownly in August. The service is available in limited regions.