Covid-19 Impact: QSR rivals Wow! Momo Foods, Cafe Coffee Day collaborate to widen reach post lockdown

Bengaluru: Wow! Momo Foods has partnered quick service rival Coffee Day Enterprises (CDEL) to sell momos at their cafes, in an effort to piggyback on their stores network and widen menu of rivals that don’t sell competing products.
“Customers will be able to buy our momos at CCD outlets, starting with Bengaluru,” said Sagar Daryani, cofounder of Wow! Momo Foods, at a webinar hosted by Retailers Association of India on the business of food in post-Covid era.

“The year 2020 is about consolidation and there will be many mergers and acquisitions in the food industry. I am open to more such collaborations,” added Daryani.

In an email response to ET, CDEL said the development is at a very nascent stage and declined to comment.

Wow! Momo Foods, which started operations 11 years ago, posted loss of Rs 7 crore this April amid the nationwide lockdown. Recently, the Kolkata-headquartered food company also launched a grocery arm in which it partnered with ITC, Nestle and P&G to enable delivery of essential supplies through third party vendors.

“Young businesses like ours should be agile to keep business afloat. We extended a new business line and utilised our existing 700 employees to enable payment of salaries,” said Daryani.

According to apex body NRAI, or the national restaurant association of India, the hospitality industry employs 7.3 million people and is the second largest employer of human capital in India after agriculture. The restaurant sector has been on standstill following the nationwide lockdown starting March 25. Even after lockdown restrictions are eased, food and beverage is expected to be hit the hardest within discretionary categories.