Urban India can be defined by its ever-growing e-commerce sector which is one of the fastest in the world. This sector is witnessing an upsurge in online food delivery services which is mainly attributed to the rise in demand for quick and convenient access to food. The majority of the consumers who make use of these services are of 18-40 years of age and more than 65% of the Indian population is below the age of 35. Their fast-paced lifestyles and food consumption habits are the key drivers of the foodservice industry and on-demand services. This is what gave rise to companies such as Swiggy, Zomato, UberEats and plenty more, which showcase astounding annual growth rates. They invest heavily in increasing the delivery executives at hand to expand their business as well as to improve the delivery time. (Gazala P, 2019)
Along with the growing food delivery services, the food industry itself is reshaping. In urban areas, more and more restaurants are now offering global cuisines. The expanding variety of cuisines is another factor why the on-demand access is lucrative for the consumers who for the most part are at their homes.
Most of the attention goes to the delivery logistics, the quality & variety of food and the customer experience, what should be equally given notice is the food packaging. The packaging must fulfill the requirements of ease of handling, food safety and tamper-proofing, but in- addition to its functional aspects it must be sustainable as well. There have been about 35-40
million orders per month which generated nearly 22,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste; most of which probably wasn’t recycled as it was meant to be. (Nair, R., Banerji, O., 2019) Furthermore, the Indian government has initiated the plan of eliminating single-use plastic by 2022 (earthday.org, 2019). This presents the opportunity for the use of alternate materials and manufacturing methods.