Quick commerce platform Zepto has temporarily closed 44 of its 10-minute food delivery outlets, branded as Zepto Cafes, across several North Indian cities, including Delhi, Agra, Chandigarh, Mohali, Amritsar, and Meerut, citing supply chain challenges, according to sources.
Most of these outlets had only recently become operational over the past few months.
“The demand at these locations far exceeded expectations, putting significant pressure on vendors who struggled to keep products in stock,” a source familiar with the matter said. As a result, many items were frequently unavailable at these cafes.
Each Zepto Cafe typically sources around 200 different products from a wide network of vendors spread across various cities. The sudden demand surge has reportedly overwhelmed supply partners.
“These cafes have been paused temporarily to allow the company to recalibrate its supply chain and work with vendors to enhance capacity,” another insider revealed, adding that Zepto aims to have these outlets back online by August or September.
The temporary closure is expected to impact around 500 gig workers. Each cafe employs roughly 9–10 staff members. Zepto is offering affected workers the option to shift roles—either within existing dark stores as pickers or packers or to the nearest operational cafe.
Within Zepto’s dark stores, there is a designated mini-kitchen area for its cafe operations. Out of approximately 900 dark stores currently in operation, about 750 are equipped with these kitchens. Notably, around 500 of them are located in North India.
The move comes amid rapid growth in Zepto Cafe’s order volumes. In February, the brand surpassed 100,000 orders per day, and industry analysts estimate that figure may have already crossed 200,000 daily orders by May.
Zepto’s challenges emerge as the quick food delivery segment heats up with competition. Blinkit, owned by Zomato, operates over 100 Bistro kitchens across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. Swiggy, too, is expanding its rapid food delivery services under Snacc and Bolt, the latter of which operates in around 500 cities through partnerships with QSR giants like Dominos and McDonald’s.
