Building a food delivery app in the internet shutdown capital of the world

Jibran Gulzar was all set to move to London to pursue a master’s degree in 2019.

On August 3 that year, he arrived in his hometown, Srinagar, to renew his passport before applying for a visa. He had no idea that he would be stuck there for a year, miss his chance to go to London, and end up founding a food delivery app that works with limited internet connectivity in a region notorious for government-mandated internet shutdowns.

Gulzar is the founder and chief executive officer of Gatoes, the largest restaurant discovery and food delivery app in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, a region at the center of one of the world’s most dangerous territorial conflicts between India, Pakistan, and China for the past seven decades.

Gatoes has pioneered food delivery in the hilly and remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir, and maintained its stronghold even as larger rivals such as Swiggy and Zomato arrived. This year, the company is expanding beyond its home turf: It has already launched services in neighboring Himachal Pradesh and Leh, and plans to enter Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab soon.

“When [Gatoes] launched, very few startups existed in Jammu and Kashmir,” Irtif Lone, a former senior executive at the state-owned Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute, told Rest of World. “They built a startup company that quickly became the go-to solution for restaurants seeking delivery services.”

On August 5, 2019, two days after Gulzar came to Srinagar to renew his passport, the Indian government withdrew Article 370, a law that gave native Jammu and Kashmir residents special rights over land, jobs, and residentship. There was a curfew imposed in the region and the internet was shut down to avoid backlash against the decision. The curfew was lifted after about a month, but restrictions on movement continued for much longer. Jammu and Kashmir had no internet service till December 2019 — the longest such blackout in a democracy until then. In January 2020, 2G internet services were partially allowed.

Gulzar, stuck at home with nothing to do, started thinking of what he would do next. That’s when he came up with the idea for Gatoes.

“I had lost the hope of getting my passport and thought about different ideas to stay active,” he told Rest of World . “I got depressed at home. To get out of it, I needed something and the thought of launching Gatoes became a hope.”

When the curfew was relaxed, Gulzar left Kashmir and traveled to Chandigarh and Delhi to discuss the idea with several software developers.

“Keeping the internet disruption in mind, we made an app that works perfectly at 2G internet speed,” Gulzar said. “It took a lot of negotiation because I didn’t have any money but we managed to build the app in a few months.”

In early 2020, Gulzar borrowed money from a friend and purchased the domain name. In July that year, he brought in his schoolmate Danish Majeed as Gatoes’ first employee.

The app was launched in August 2020 with only two delivery workers.

“Initially, I had 100,000 rupees [$1,190], which I gave directly to the developers. As soon as the revenue started coming in, we put it into marketing,” Gulzar said. “We kept using the money [we earned] for the development of the app and didn’t take the salary for the initial months.”

In early 2021, once 4G internet services resumed in Jammu and Kashmir, Gatoes rapidly expanded to several cities — and hilly, remote areas — like Bandipora, Rajouri, Handwara, Kathua, and Kupwara, Gulzar said.

This was the first time an app-based food delivery service was available in these places, Lone said.

In May 2021, Gatoes became the first startup from Jammu and Kashmir to reach $1 million in gross merchandise value. The number has since more than doubled, Gulzar said, without sharing the exact figure.

Gatoes delivers to more than 45,000 customers a month, according to Majeed, now the company’s chief financial officer. The app receives around 1,600 orders per day, and lists over 1,200 restaurants and cafes in Jammu and Kashmir. The company works with more than 200 delivery workers in the region, and has 50 full-time employees.

“Currently, we are growing [our revenue] at the rate of 35%,” Majeed told Rest of World . Gatoes is also working on a separate delivery app that can run offline, he said.

Fundraising in a conflict-ridden region is a big challenge, said Gulzar. Besides his initial investment, Gatoes has been funded by an angel investor, whose identity the company did not wish to disclose. “Now we mostly get funds from a Kashmiri who lives abroad. He has been kind enough to mentor us and help us financially,” Gulzar said.

Building an app-based business in a region with extremely limited connectivity also means the founders have to be extremely hands-on with their business.

Just last month, Majeed received a call on his private mobile phone from a man in his 60s, from Srinagar’s Nishat area. He asked Majeed how he could order his favorite shawarma using Gatoes. “I guided him through the entire process on the phone. I helped him download the app from the [Google] Play store, then instructed him till he made the order,” Majeed said. The call lasted nearly 30 minutes. “He told me I helped him like a son and gave me a lot of blessings.

As the internet in Jammu and Kashmir has stabilized over the last two years, other food delivery services have entered the region. Swiggy launched its services in the region in 2022, and Zomato followed in 2023.

But Gatoes has managed to stay ahead of the competition due to its availability in smaller cities and towns, Majeed said.

“We were scared that we would soon run out of business but people of Kashmir supported us,” he said. “When they came into the market, more people started becoming aware of us. So it benefited us.” He said the increased competition has pushed his team to “strategize more, monitor their approach, and figure out how Gatoes could differentiate itself.”

Swiggy is currently available in Srinagar, Baramulla, and Sopore, the company’s fleet operations manager, Peerzada Uzair, told Rest of World. The company works with over 600 restaurants in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

According to Zomato’s app, it is currently available in six cities in Jammu and Kashmir. The company did not respond to a request for comment from Rest of World.

“When Gatoes started, they were the only food delivery startup in J&K. That was the time to capture the market. However, with Swiggy and Zomato out there, it won’t be easy for Gatoes to scale up,” Lone said .

Gatoes is now gearing up to compete with the two giants in other markets. In January, the company launched services in Himachal Pradesh, and five months later, in Leh. It is also in the process of expanding into Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana in northern India by mid-2025, Gulzar said.

“Gatoes should have expanded earlier, but it’s good that they are doing it now,” Lone said. “It’s commendable that they are now taking on the challenge to Swiggy and Zomato in other states. From what I know, I have seen a lot of resilience in their team. Staying in the market for four years despite significant competition is a notable achievement.” ▰

Gafira Qadir is a freelance journalist based in Srinagar.