January 10, 2025: Swiggy, India’s pioneering on-demand convenience platform, today launches “Swiggy Serves”, a flagship program aimed at minimizing waste across its value chain and addressing hunger. As part of this campaign, Swiggy announced its inaugural partnership with the Robin Hood Army (RHA), a volunteer-driven organization. Together, Swiggy and RHA aim to create a meaningful impact by redistributing surplus food from Swiggy’s restaurant partners to underserved communities. Through this collaboration, the two organizations have set an ambitious goal of providing 50 million meals by 2030, by leveraging technology to reimagine food redistribution.
The pilot phase of the Swiggy Serves-RHA partnership has already delivered encouraging results. Over 2,000 meals have been redistributed across 33 cities, with more than 126 restaurant partners joining the initiative. This program aligns with Swiggy’s vision to transform surplus food into a resource to combat hunger while reducing food waste.
Brands like Bikkgane Biryani, Biryani by the Kilo, Dana Choga, Vardhas, Charcoal Eats – Biryani & Beyond, Dabba Garam, House of Biryani, B.Tech Momos Wala, Samosa Singh, Babai Tiffins, Dosa Anna, Urban Tandoor, have signed up to be a part of the Swiggy Serves- RHA initiative.
The Robin Hood Army (RHA) is a volunteer-based, zero-funds organization with thousands of young professionals, retired folks, homemakers, college students as volunteers. These volunteers, called Robins, collect surplus food from restaurants/weddings/events and distribute it to the less fortunate. In ten years, RHA has served over 153 million meals across 406 cities globally. Present in 13 countries, they are a family of 260,000+ registered Robins all working towards zero hunger with zero funds approach.
Speaking at the launch, Rohit Kapoor, CEO, of Swiggy Food Marketplace shared, “At Swiggy, we’ve always seen ourselves as experts in logistics and consumer experience. With ‘Swiggy Serves,’ we are leveraging our strengths and privilege to address a larger societal need and tackle the issues of food wastage and hunger. We are excited to partner with RHA to redistribute surplus food from our restaurant partners to those in need. Currently, we are live in 33 cities and we plan to take this initiative to more cities. This isn’t just about reducing waste, it’s about creating a meaningful impact, ensuring that no meal goes wasted.”
On their partnership with Swiggy, Neel Ghose, Co-Founder, Robin Hood Army shared, “Robin Hood Army is thrilled to come together with Swiggy for this shared mission of reducing hunger. When an industry leader like Swiggy collaborates with a community-driven movement, it amplifies the impact, inspiring others to join the fight against hunger. Together, we’re creating a stronger, united front to ensure no plate goes empty.”
Restaurant partners can join Swiggy Serves by filling out a form on the Swiggy Owner app, indicating their willingness to donate surplus or fresh food. Once onboarded, RHA will add these restaurant partners to dedicated WhatsApp groups for seamless communication and coordination. RHA volunteers will be responsible for picking up surplus food from these partners and ensuring it is distributed to communities in need.
India has nearly 195 million undernourished people, one-fourth of the undernourished population of the world, as per the United Nations. In 2024, India’s Global Hunger Index (GHI) score was 27.3, citing hunger as a serious problem. Also, India ranked 105 out of 127 countries in the 2024 GHI. As per United Nations, India wastes 55 kg of food per head, every year.