The most underrated problem in food delivery isn't delivery time. It's identity.
Right now, apps show you brands: quirky names, glossy photos, "authentic" this and "traditional" that. But as cloud kitchens multiply and the same kitchen can run multiple listings, trust becomes the real currency. When food is coming from behind a logo, users start asking: Who actually cooked this?
That's where a deceptively simple feature can change the game: adding home names/surnames to restaurant listings—think "Iyer Home Kitchen", "Khan Family Biryani", "Sharma Jain Bhojanalaya (Home Style)". Not as a gimmick, but as a structured identity layer: a verified "made-by" marker, like a chef's signature.
This isn't a random UX tweak. It aligns perfectly with where the market is already moving. Swiggy's own reporting shows massive scale—~13 million users and ~196,000 restaurant partners in FY 2023–24, across 650+ cities. When a marketplace gets this big, consumers don't just want more options—they want better filtering for reliability, authenticity, and safety.
Why surnames work (and why they'll convert)
- Trust shortcut: A surname is a social contract. If I'm ordering "Patel Thepla House," I subconsciously expect consistency. That expectation reduces hesitation and increases repeat orders—especially for staples like dal-chawal, idli, rajma, fish curry.
- Regional food finally gets "credible discovery": India's appetite for eating out is exploding—NRAI pegs the food services industry at ₹5.69 lakh crore (FY24), projected to ₹7.76 lakh crore by FY28. The next wave isn't just pizza and burgers; it's hyper-regional comfort food that people miss from home.
- A defensible moat vs. discount wars: Quick commerce is growing fast, but the sector is also attracting scrutiny (and marketing claims like "10-minute delivery" are being reined in). In a world where speed marketing gets regulated and discounts get expensive, trust-led differentiation becomes a cleaner strategy.
What Swiggy can build on top of it (the "agentic" layer)
Once surnames exist as structured metadata, Swiggy can deploy an AI "food agent" that behaves like a local friend who actually knows your taste:
"You liked Iyer sambhar—want the same style, but with less oil?"
"Ordering for parents? Prioritize home kitchens with verified family identity, high repeat rates, and low complaint flags."
"Craving your hometown? Show surname + region clusters (Konkan, Chettinad, Malwa) and rank by authenticity signals."
On the supply side, it unlocks micro-entrepreneurship: homemakers and small family cooks become discoverable without pretending to be a "brand." And the macro tailwind is strong—Swiggy's industry report projects online food delivery growth of ~17–22% between 2023 and 2028. A growing pie rewards better segmentation.
Put it together and the "home/surname" feature stops looking like a cute idea and starts looking inevitable. In the next 2–3 years, food apps will likely feel less like scrolling through anonymous storefronts—and more like ordering from a verified network of neighborhoods, families, and specialists, where identity is the new rating.