Brands
Uber Eats, CCD partner to launch India’s largest virtual restaurant network
MUMBAI: Uber Eats, the world’s largest food delivery network and Café Coffee Day, India’s largest café chain, have announced a partnership to launch the country’s largest network of virtual restaurants, which will soon bring foodies a greater choice of ‘delivery-only’ restaurant brands exclusively on the Uber Eats app.
The first restaurant brand under this partnership is scheduled to launch in November.
This partnership will leverage Café Coffee Day’s robust and innovative F&B expertise, pan India café network with the technology that Uber Eats is renowned for. Uber Eats will help Café Coffee Day with data, analytics and insights to help identify food or cuisines that consumers crave the most. This will enable Café Coffee Day and Uber Eats to launch menu offerings as per evolving consumer trends, for multiple ‘delivery-only’ virtual restaurants.
Uber Technologies vice president Jason Droege says, “Using experience and lessons learnt in the virtual restaurant space from our global operations, we hope to provide our Indian restaurant partners greater growth opportunities. Our customers too will enjoy ordering and eating their favourite everyday meals at the tap of a button.”
Café Coffee Day chief executive officer Venu Madhan adds, “With this association we aim to take the goodwill and trust earned in the F&B space and combine it with new age reality of virtual restaurants to offer everyday meals that can be delivered to nomadic millennials at home or at work in a convenient manner. Uber Eats’s strength and expertise in the business of home delivery will ensure delight to millions of aspiring youngsters who have moved away from their homes with great quality products from Café Coffee Day’s virtual restaurants every day across the country.”
Virtual restaurants are digital-only eateries that allow business owners to explore new culinary options and reach a wider audience by using the space in their existing kitchen. Virtual restaurants allow partners to test new opportunities in today’s dynamic market in a nimble manner.
Uber Eats is currently present in 37 cities in India with a strong presence in tier 2 cities. In the last 3 months, the number of orders on the app has grown 6 times and Uber Eats is adding 100 new restaurants to its platform everyday. Café Coffee Day currently has a network of 1742 cafes across 246 cities in India.
Uber Eats started in 2014 as a small delivery pilot in Los Angeles and launched as a separate application in Toronto in December 2015. Since then, it has grown incredibly fast, and is now a stand-alone app available in 350+ cities around the globe. In India, Uber Eats was first launched in Mumbai in May 2017.
Brands
Kotak Mahindra Bank appoints Ramesh Iyer to board
Veteran financier replaces Ashok Gulati, who retires in March
MUMBAI: Kotak Mahindra Bank has announced a change to its board of directors, with independent director Ashok Gulati set to retire at the end of his term on 5 March.
The company said it has appointed Ramesh Ganesh Iyer as an additional and independent director for a four-year term, effective 17 February, subject to shareholder approval.
Iyer brings more than four decades of experience in financial services. He spent much of his career at Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, where he served as vice chairman and managing director before taking on the role of president for the financial services sector and member of the group executive board at Mahindra & Mahindra. He retired from the group in April 2024.
During his tenure, Iyer was instrumental in expanding rural and inclusive finance initiatives, scaling the company’s assets and customer base. He also led the creation of subsidiaries in rural housing finance, insurance broking and asset management, and oversaw international joint ventures.
Iyer holds a commerce degree and a doctorate of letters, and currently serves on the boards of several listed and unlisted companies.
The board meeting approving the changes was held in Mumbai on February 17 between 6.30 pm and 6.50 pm.
