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Top1. Introduction
Information and communication technology have reformed how the service sector communicates with their customers (Derindag, Canakci & Tsarev, 2019). The new technology-based platforms, popularly known as self-service technologies (SST), has improved service delivery, increased customer satisfaction and enhanced service standards (Meuter et al., 2000 and Iqbal, Hassan & Habibah, 2018). The internet helps a business facilitate good and service delivery, gain a competitive advantage, improve customer service, and reduce costs (Torkzadeh, Chang and Hardin, 2011). Currently, routine life is more and more dependent on technology-based services and mobile applications (Shaw, Ellis & Ziegler, 2018).
The entry of online food aggregators (OFA) brought an immense disruption in the restaurant and food delivery business (Panse, Sharma & Dorji, 2019). The OFA portals/apps enable the consumers to log in and provide them access to various restaurants, compare menus, prices and reviews posted by peers (Carsten et al., 2016; Yeo, Goh & Rezaei, 2017). Marketplace owner (OFA) charges commission from restaurant & customer places order with delivery details and makes payment (Marriott, Williams, & Dwivedi, 2017). Online food delivery is now reportedly accounting for 30-35% of partner restaurants' entire business (Bagla & Khan, 2017). Cloud kitchen is a significant opportunity for small restaurateurs. Cloud kitchen is defined as a delivery-only model equipped with a production facility that is a kitchen but has no dine-in provision (Choudhary, 2019). The most important role in the beginning of cloud kitchen has been played by OFA (Hirschberg, Rajko, Schumacher & Wrulich, 2016). For most cloud kitchens, OFA platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy are the only mode to receive customer orders. In recent years, OFA has encouraged the addition of cloud kitchens on their platform (Sachitanand, 2019 & Singh, 2019). Many chefs who have lost their job in the pandemic period turned their home kitchen into a cloud kitchen by partnering with food aggregators (Kabirdoss, 2020). The benefit of cloud kitchen operator association with food aggregator includes logistic and technical support and savings in terms of infrastructure and increased credibility (Alboukrek, 2003, Ba & Pavlou, 2002). On average cloud kitchen, offers small restaurateur three times more saving than setting up a restaurant in India (Choudhary, 2019). The competition in the restaurant business has increased with the advancements in online food ordering techniques, and now even the small operators can compete with established ones as technology has made visibility easier (Kedah, Ismail, Haque, & Ahmed, 2015)
As the online food ordering sector is gaining momentum, the food operators need to identify what encourages customers to make an order through a website/app (Morosan and Jeong, 2008) and factors that influence one channel's selection over another (Liu & Zhang, 2014). The food aggregators enable customers to have more control over order than the traditional ordering system (Kimes, 2011) by providing up-to-date information about the restaurants, menu options, rating, and restaurant review (Algharabat, Alalwan, Rana, & Dwivedi, 2017). The convenience of ordering online leads to an increase in both adoption and satisfaction. (Collier & Kimes, 2013). Online food ordering offers convenience to the customers, as they can evade long waiting queues for orders, escape from traffic, and make their order from anywhere (Alalwan, 2020). In the current pandemic period, food delivery platforms ensure safe delivery by providing no contact delivery options. The food aggregator platforms ensure credibility by employing a robust set of guidelines recommended by medical experts (Li, Merosa and Bremer, 2020). The price value is another differentiator in the adoption of new technology. Many restaurants offer attractive discounts while ordering through food aggregators. In this way, it saves financial cost and non-financial cost in terms of visiting the restaurant (Oyedele, Saldivar, Hernandez, and Goenner, 2018).