How to Start Food Delivery in India (2026)

Food delivery in India is a compliance and logistics business before it is a website. You need an FSSAI registration, GST, a kitchen that can hold 30-40 minutes of delivery time, and a channel that takes orders. This guide builds the ordering stack you own, then covers payments, delivery zones and the marketing that moves aggregator customers onto your site.

Which food delivery channel should you start with in India?

Start with your own ordering site and keep WhatsApp as the fallback; treat Swiggy, Zomato and ONDC as paid discovery. A direct order costs hosting and a small payment-gateway fee, while an aggregator order hands over a commission that usually runs between 18% and 30% of the bill.

Most kitchens run all three. The listing brings strangers, the site converts the ones who order twice, and WhatsApp catches the regulars who message at 9 pm. None of the three needs an app, so the mix can be settled in a week.

Licences and registrations a food delivery business needs in India

You need an FSSAI registration before you cook food for sale, GST registration to invoice and to pass platform onboarding, a municipal trade licence, and shops and establishment registration in most states.

• FSSAI basic registration — turnover up to ₹12 lakh a year; a home kitchen can qualify.
• FSSAI state licence — turnover from ₹12 lakh to ₹20 crore; expect a layout plan and an inspection.
• FSSAI central licence — turnover above ₹20 crore, imports and exports.
• GST registration — once you cross the threshold, and delivery platforms ask for it at onboarding.
• Trade licence — issued by the municipal corporation for the kitchen premises.
• Shops and Establishment Act — state registration of the business and its staff.
• Fire NOC — required for a commercial kitchen in most municipal limits.

Give the kitchen the licence artwork before the first order, because delivery platforms expect the FSSAI number on the box. Renew before the date printed on the certificate; an expired licence is a reason a platform can suspend a listing.

The ordering stack: menu, cart, payments, delivery zones and order status

A working ordering stack has five parts: a menu with prices, a cart, a payment step, a pincode delivery check and an order confirmation with status. Coupons, loyalty points and a rider app are optional until volume pays for them.

1. Build menu pages by category, with name, price, photo, veg or non-veg tag and an availability switch.
2. Add a cart with a minimum order value, so a small order does not consume a rider's whole trip.
3. Collect phone, address and pincode at checkout, and refuse an order outside your list instead of promising a callback.
4. Take payment through the gateway, and keep cash on delivery only for the pincodes you trust.
5. Show a confirmation page with the order number, the promised time and a status link.
6. Log every order in one admin view, so the kitchen and the phone agree at closing time.

Two builds cover most kitchens: WooCommerce with a restaurant ordering plugin on WordPress, or a hosted store builder. Both need PHP or a managed runtime, MySQL, SSL and a daily backup, because a static page cannot take an order. The online store build path sets out what each option includes.

How to take UPI and card payments on a food ordering site

Open a payment-gateway merchant account in your business name, switch on UPI first and cards second. UPI costs the least per collection, cards cost more, and cash on delivery needs a physical cash count at the end of every shift.

• Merchant KYC — PAN, a bank proof in the business name, and the registration or GST certificate. Mismatched names are the usual delay.
• UPI intent and QR — the customer pays from any UPI app without typing a card number.
• Cards and netbanking — keep them for office lunches and larger family orders.
• Settlement — money arrives after the gateway's holding period, so do not spend the day's takings twice.
• Refunds — publish the window in your refund policy before the first complaint, not after it.
• COD — set a rider cash limit and a deposit rule; unreconciled cash is invisible loss.

Never store card numbers on your own server; the gateway's checkout page handles them. The payment gateway comparison covers settlement cycles and the documents each provider asks for.

How to set delivery zones, charges and timings for an Indian kitchen

Set delivery by a pincode list rather than a drawn radius, charge a flat fee per zone, and publish a kitchen cut-off. A 30-minute promise across a 10 km ring is how a new kitchen collects its first one-star reviews.

• Zone list — start with the pincodes a rider can reach in 20 minutes at 8 pm, not at noon.
• Flat fee per zone — a nearer zone pays less; a farther zone pays more or clears a minimum order.
• Free delivery threshold — set it above your average bill, never below it.
• Pre-order slots — lunch boxes ordered the night before, with a stated cut-off.
• Peak stop — rain and festival evenings get a longer promise shown on the site before payment.

Test the promise before you publish it: cook a full order, pack it, and drive the route at peak hour. Add ten minutes to whatever you measure, then show the same time on the site that the kitchen quotes on the phone.

How to market a direct ordering site without aggregator commission

Your first direct orders come from a Google Business Profile, a QR code on every box and table, and WhatsApp messages to customers who have already ordered. Both channels cost time, not a commission on each bill.

• Google Business Profile — correct category, service area, menu link and photos updated monthly.
• Menu pages, not a PDF — one page per category so a dish name can be found in search.
• QR on packaging — opens the order page directly, not the homepage.
• WhatsApp list — one message a week with the day's special, sent only to people who opted in.
• Reviews — asked for on the confirmation page, while the food is still warm.

Local search compounds because it keeps working between orders: opening hours, area served and a phone number that matches the site. Local SEO services covers the profile and citation work if you would rather not run it yourself.

What it costs to run a food ordering site in India

Running cost is small next to the kitchen and the rider: a domain, hosting, and a fee per transaction. WebJi® WordPress Unlimited hosting is ₹400 a month before 18% GST, which covers a small ordering site with a menu, cart and checkout.

A custom store build is a project, not a subscription: WebJi® quotes it by email before any payment, and you approve the scope before work starts. Compare that one-time figure with a year of commission on the same order volume.

Pick the hosting to match the build. WordPress hosting plans cover the WooCommerce route; move to a cloud server when concurrent checkout traffic slows the site, not on day one.