According to reports, food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato&nbsp;are driving the growth and popularity of 'dark' kitchens. Commonly known as ghost kitchens or cloud kitchens, these are basically takeaway outlets that mostly&nbsp; cater to online orders.&nbsp;One factor that has worked in favour of the food delivery platforms is the data that they have accumulated about consumers' preferences. Analysing this data allows them to understand the nature of the demand of food a particular area generates. The biggest advantage of virtual kitchens includes relatively low investment and business risk.&nbsp;

According to reports, food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato are driving the growth and popularity of 'dark' kitchens. Commonly known as ghost kitchens or cloud kitchens, these are basically takeaway outlets that mostly cater to online orders. One factor that has worked in favour of the food delivery platforms is the data that they have accumulated about consumers' preferences. Analysing this data allows them to understand the nature of the demand of food a particular area generates. The biggest advantage of virtual kitchens includes relatively low investment and business risk.

Food delivery platform Zomato begun delivering groceries in over 80 cities in India. The aim is to ensure last mile delivery of essential items in the wake of the 21-day nationwide lockdown. On its app, the company has a feature called 'Zomato Market' that'll provide information on the local grocery stores in the area.&nbsp;The food delivery giant&nbsp;has taken a number of precautionary steps since the Covid-19 outbreak, such as offering contactless delivery and pausing cash on delivery temporarily. In addition to that, CEO &nbsp;Deepinder Goyal&nbsp;announced that all proceeds from Gold subscriptions in April will be used to support restaurants workers in need and users will get one additional year of Gold free.

Financial and data analysis company CRISIL&nbsp;is distributing 10,000 meals every day to underprivileged people across Mumbai&nbsp;to help those stranded due to the coronavirus&nbsp;outbreak. Prepared at the kitchen facility of its Mumbai&nbsp;headquarters, the administration is providing food to&nbsp;labour camps in Hiranandani,&nbsp;slums in Mankhurd and Dharavi&nbsp;and&nbsp;Aarey Road in&nbsp;Goregaon&nbsp;as a part of the firms '10K Meals Project.'

A confectionery in Kolkata,&nbsp;Hindusthan&nbsp;Sweets has come up with 'corona sweets' to spread awareness about the novel coronavirus. Their cakes and cupcakes resemble the shape of&nbsp;the virus and are decked in bright colours. The owner shared that the idea is not only to keep customers informed but also to uplift their spirits during these stressful times. The sweet shop is also offering the 'corona sandesh' free of cost.&nbsp;

There's no better time than now to master your baking skills and Indians are taking it quite seriously! It seems like a top favourite during this lockdown&nbsp;period is baking bread. Google Trends data for India shows that there has been a spike in the search volume for the keyword &ldquo;how to make bread&rdquo;! From whole wheat and banana bread to croissants, Indians seem to be baking just about everything.&nbsp;&nbsp;

American snack and beverage company PepsiCo's India arm has announced that its foundation will&nbsp;provide 25,000 COVID-19 testing kits and over 5 million meals to aid those affected by the coronavirus&nbsp;pandemic in India. The multinational has partnered with the&nbsp;Akshaya Patra Foundation for meal distribution and the&nbsp;Smile Foundation for providing dry food ration to the needy. Additionally, PepsiCo&nbsp;will match all employee donations two-fold and donate the cumulative funds to the NGOs it is working with.&nbsp;

The viral Dalgona Coffee, inspired by a South Korean sponge candy, has become a global hit as people favour their sweet tooth while self-isolating.&nbsp;'Dalgona' is actually a sponge candy, popular as a street food in South Korea.&nbsp;DIY Dalgona coffee videos have been sweeping the Internet all the way from Indonesia to the United States and even India. The recipe is quite simple. It uses instant coffee, warm water and sugar. With a whole lot of whisking, the coffee paste turns into a thick creamy mix and the 'inverse cappucino-style treat' is ready by adding milk.&nbsp;Netizens have been quick to share their own versions.&nbsp;

Online food delivery giants Swiggy&nbsp;and Zomato&nbsp;are witnessing&nbsp;a 70% drop deliveries due to the Covid-19 lockdown, investors told Economic Times. Swiggy's&nbsp;services remain shut in almost 60-70% of the the cities where it operates. The report added that the Indian food delivery space which was able to hit 3.5 million daily deliveries in October 2019 has now slumped to just over 1 million orders a day.&nbsp;

If the virus spread continues and the current situation lasts till May, as many as 50 per cent of restaurants in India could shut according to the National Restaurant Association of India's President Anurag&nbsp;Katiyar. In a statement to Business Today, he revealed that only 5-6 chains have the cash reserves to sustain for more than a month. NRAI has estimated that at least 1.7 million will lose their jobs amid the health emergency in an industry that employs approximately 7.3 million people.&nbsp;

In some heartwarming&nbsp;news,&nbsp;Naples residents are hanging pasta and other free food items from their balcony in the alleys of the Italian city's ancient center to help poor people who have lost even their low income jobs due to the pandemic.

Members of the transgender community distributed food kits to slum dwellers and others in need in Surat amid the 21-day&nbsp;lockdown due to the&nbsp;Covid-19 pandemic. About 150 members prepared kits with rice, oil, tea leaves, flour and other essential items. The group got together ever year to celebrate Navratri&nbsp;but this year they decided to lend a helping hand instead and&nbsp;offered almost 1500 kits to people.&nbsp;

With many of the best restaurants around the world closed due to the novel coronavirus&nbsp;pandemic, the &lsquo;World&rsquo;s 50 Best Restaurants 2020&rsquo; award ceremony, originally planned for June 2nd, has been cancelled. The awards will now take place in Antwerp in&nbsp;Belgium in summer 2021. Organisers at William Reed, the company behind 'World's 50 Best', said that there will be no list in 2020, and instead, they will put all their efforts into helping the restaurant sector fight for its future. Last year, French restaurant Mirazur was named No. 1, followed by Noma in Copenhagen and Spain&rsquo;s Asador Etxebarri. All three restaurants are currently closed due to nationwide coronavirus shutdowns.

The restaurant industry in India may have been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, but some are setting a great example by lending a helping hand. Employees of Massive Restaurants, that owns&nbsp;Masala Library, Pa Pa Ya, Farzi Caf&eacute; and Made in Punjab, have volunteered to cook and distribute meals to the needy. Restaurateur&nbsp;Zorawar Kalra shared that they're looking at&nbsp;5,000 meals a day across Gurugram and Mumbai, and will start&nbsp;in&nbsp;New Delhi&nbsp;and Bengaluru&nbsp;too. The National Restaurant Association of India has also, reportedly, offered to provide free meals with restaurants in&nbsp;Bengaluru, Calcutta and New Delhi using their resources and networks to feed those in need.&nbsp;

To reach out to those in need amid the 21-day lockdown&nbsp;in the country,&nbsp;the Indian Railways has started offering free meals to people across railway stations at different locations in the country. 13 of Indian Railways' base kitchens are being used to enhance distribution of these meals. The food is distributed by the Railway Protection Force with help from some NGOs and volunteers. In New Delhi, the meals were offered at Shakurbasti and Nizamuddin stations while Agra, Prayagraj and Kanpur stations were also involved in the exercise.

The National Restaurant Association of India has asked for a helping hand from mall owners. The industry body has urged mall owners to waive off rent for three months and switch to a profit-sharing model for the next sixth months as restaurateurs&nbsp;stare at a bleak near future for eateries. According to the Economic Times, some owners including the&nbsp;Lulu group, Lodha group, Forum and Vegas have agreed to provide interim relief, others say they will be unable to do the same unless they receive some relief themselves.&nbsp;

Protectionist measures by governments around the world during the coronavirus crisis could provoke global food shortages, the UN&rsquo;s food body has warned. Shortage of field workers and regulations like tariffs and export bans could lead to problems in the coming weeks.&nbsp;Kazakhstan, for instance,&nbsp;has reportedly banned exports of wheat flour, of which it is one of the world&rsquo;s biggest sources. Vietnam, the world&rsquo;s third biggest rice exporter, has temporarily suspended rice export contracts.&nbsp;&ldquo;All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world,"&nbsp;said the&nbsp;chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.&nbsp;

Indian food products company Parle&nbsp;Products shared that it will distribute about three crore packs of biscuits in the next three weeks, specially to the needy people through government agencies.&nbsp;The company said its manufacturing units are functioning with 50% of the workforce keeping with government advisories to curb escalation of the&nbsp;coronavirus outbreak, but it is working to ensure that sufficient quantity of its products are available in the market.

A German baker has found a way of cheering up his clients by cooking cakes shaped as one of the country's most coveted items: toilet paper. Spreading cream around a marble cake and then wrapping it with fondant icing, 36-year-old Tim Kortuem from Dortmund started doing toilet paper-shaped cakes only for fun. According to the German Press Agency, he now bakes 200 "rolls" per day, which helps keep his business employing 40 people afloat.

With the coronavirus outbreak impacting food delivery and restaurant businesses in India, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal announced that hundreds of employees in his company have taken a deep voluntary salary cuts to help the food delivery giant maintain a steady cash flow. In a series of tweets, Goyal said,&nbsp;Zomato is donating towards a delivery partner fund, as well as 'Feed the Daily Wager' campaign to support the community in these tough times.&nbsp;Goyal also announced several measures to help its customers and its partners. All paid Zomato Gold memberships across India, the UAE, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Lebanon, Turkey, New Zealand, Portugal and Qatar will get a two month membership extension at zero cost. For its Gold partners, Zomato will facilitate working capital loans to get through the lockdown.

Daily life is slowly returning to normal in China, with restaurants beginning to reopen after being forced to shut for nearly two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many restaurants opened their doors again over the weekend and public spaces sprung back to life across the nation.&nbsp;While the domestic situation has calmed, China is sparing no effort in shielding itself from the threats of outbreaks in other countries.

Scientists at the Ghent University in Belgium are experimenting with insect fat to replace butter in waffles, cakes and cookies. According to the team, using grease from insects is more sustainable than dairy produce. They have been working on creating insect butter using black soldier fly larvae. Consumers noticed no difference when a quarter of milk butter in a cake was replaced with larva fat, but the taste became unusual&nbsp;as the quantity was increased, says the study. Scientists are looking at insects as a more environmentally friendly and cheap alternative to other types of animal products.

Food delivery platforms driving 'dark kitchens' in India

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