Swiggy to take 10-minute Bolt food delivery to tier 2 and 3 cities; Roorkie, Patna & Nashik on list

The food delivery and quick commerce platform Swiggy Limited on Monday announced that it was expanding its Swiggy Bolt delivery business to key markets in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and towns.

The Bolt business allows users to order food in 10 minutes from popular restaurants and QSRs (quick-service restaurants), Swiggy said in an official statement. It initially launched the service in six cities — Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune. 

Tier 2 and 3 cities such as Roorkie, Guntur, Warangal, Patna, Jagtial, Solan, Nashik and Shillong are among many where the company is expanding its Bolt feature. Swiggy also aims to expand into emerging market hubs like Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Indore, Coimbatore, and Kochi.

The company aims to increase market share by moving into these key markets where it is witnessing growing demand.

“Cities from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have witnessed the highest adoption for Bolt followed by Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab,” the firm said. 

Swiggy shares closed 6.26 per cent higher at ₹500.80 in Monday’s trading session, compared to ₹471.30 in the previous session. The company’s shares were listed on the stock exchanges on November 13.

“Bolt is changing the way customers are experiencing food. For the first time, people are getting food from their favourite restaurants at their doorstep, as fresh as possible. Idlis come warm and fluffy, ice creams stay frozen, and even fries are crispy right out of the package,” said Rohit Kapoor, the chief executive officer of Swiggy Limited. 

“With all the customer love we’ve received so far as well as the growing excitement from both national and local restaurants, expanding Bolt was an easy decision. We’re thrilled to bring this experience to even more cities and homes,” said Kapoor.

Bolt is currently only catering to a limited menu in a 2-kilometre radius, which comprises minimum preparation time items or ready-to-pack category food items like burgers, snacks, bakery, beverages, sweets, ice creams, breakfast items, and biryani.

Netizens on Bolt

Social media users have recently reacted to Swiggy’s Bolt feature, claiming that the platform delays its delivery and also raised concerns over pre-prepared food items.

“#Swiggybolt is hilarious, thay say they would deliver in 10 minutes, and assign waiting time 10 minutes but inherently they keep on increasing the time and they never meet the their promises. Ar least I am not in hurry, but they always fool the people (sic),” an X user said on November 29.

Responding to the post, Swiggy said, “Hi there, we’re so sorry for the inconvenience you’ve experienced. We’ll surely have this reviewed promptly from our end. Please provide your order ID, so that we can assist you further.” 

Some appreciated the initiative, but others, like Umesh Soman, raised concerns about the food being prepared beforehand and its low nutritional content.

“Please give me the option of #Bolt / #swiggybolt or a normal delivery… Let me choose! Cause all your Bolt deliveries are pre-prepared, stale, non textured, non nutrition oriented deliveries of the same thing! As it is, most #Swiggy food is low nutrition!” said Soman in his post. In its response, Swiggy apologised for the issue.