PepperTap Shuts Operations In 6 Large Cities

In a huge upset for its employees, Gurgaon-based on-demand grocery delivery startup, PepperTap, has decided to shut down operations in six major cities, including Kolkata, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Chennai. This news comes as a sharp blow to the company’s 50 full-time employees and about 400 delivery personnel, who worked on a contractual basis for the company in various cities.

Although the reasons behind the sudden fallout have not been made clear, but speculations among the industry claim that mismanagement in conserving capital can be one of the prime reasons for this. The company however will remain functional in cities like Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Noida, Bangalore, Ghaziabad and Faridabad. Going back to September 2015, the company rolled back its operations in two other cities, Agra and Meerut due to non-acceptance of the concept in the markets. This news of PepperTap’s shutdown in six cities comes in almost a month later after rival company Grofers India Pvt. Ltd decided to close operations in nine cities. Another company Shadowfax restricted its operations to only three cities.

“Even though PepperTap has been able to establish itself as a leading hyper-local grocery delivery service, given the short to mid-term investment climate outlook, we have decided to focus on depth rather than breadth. We are digging our heels in for the long term. We will focus on building a stellar customer experience by providing additional categories and services that differentiate us from our competition in cities where we continue to operate in. This will help PepperTap conserve capital it raised in the last three to six months and will give a runway of about two more years”, the co-founder and chief executive of PepperTap, Navneet Singh said.

The company was started two years back in 2014, and offers a wide range of unique products in various categories like household goods, grocery & staples and fruits & vegetables. The company claims to deliver 7000-8000 orders per day. By the end of 2015, PepperTap increased its team with more than 5000 staff to support its operations and expand its presence to 75 cities across the country.

With frequent shut downs, the plight of delivery start-up companies seems to walking on eggshells as of now and only time and market will dictate its survival. In this industrial battle, unfortunately the worst sufferers are the 400 people who are now on the verge of unemployment.