kochi while the food ordering and delivery website zomato has closed shop in the city 10 other smaller ondemand food and grocery delivery websites have no such plans and are operating successfully to survive they are not just providing ontime delivery and discounts but also cooking up innovative menus offering foods ranging from homely fare and healthy snacks minus oil and ghee to traditional foods vegan dishes and nutritional meals to senior citizens a few months ago there were 12 such online operators in the city of these two zomato and grofers have shut shop as kochi is not yet ready for the online food ordering business though smaller kochibased food ordering portals such as eato graburfood and easysmartfood are still finding their feet portals like masala box and yummykitchens which have banked on homecooked food say that they have a loyal clientele who ensure that their businesses stay afloat the business is picking up but it takes time for customers to get rid of their traditional habits of shopping and move to an online platform the future is promising said anand raj who started the portal graburfood in kochi with three other friends in december 2014 he admitted that the biggest challenge in a new city was to build a network of merchants or hotels who would lend their services in particular areas also the absence of home delivery options in most hotels was another issue zomato shut down its online ordering operations in four cities including kochi on monday due to lack of significant volumes according to zomato spokesperson the combined order volume in these four cities accounted for less than 2 of the companys total order volumes meanwhile masala box and yummykitchens have made homecooked meals delivered at your doorstep their usp our services are a bit different from other portals since the food on offer is home cooked by around 30 women from across kochi at present i get orders for around 1012 portions per day said nisha kattikaran a chef at masala box nandini r das who runs yummykitchens says that the nature of their service has ensured a loyal clientelewe have over 200 customers many of whom are older parents of nris who require our services on a daily basis said nandini according to foodies in the city food order and delivery portals may bring the food to your doorstep but there is greater satisfaction in going out and enjoying a good meal in kochi people enjoy going to restaurants on weekends or evenings after work the ambience and the people you are with actually adds to the dining experience said aaliya bilal saffiulla who works for an ad agency in the city published on jan 14 2016 at 0955 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our