Swiggy Continues AI Experiments, Launches Photoshoot To Help Restaurants Create Better Menu Images

Foodtech giant Swiggy has unveiled a new AI-based feature designed to enhance the visual appeal of restaurant menus, Swiggy Photoshoot. The feature was released around a month ago, the foodtech unicorn said in a blog post Tuesday (November 7).

The feature, baked into the Swiggy Owner app, allows restaurant owners to capture and upload menu images using their smartphones and the app. Photoshoot leverages AI to validate, enhance, and refine restaurant menu images. 

The unicorn’s image AI model rapidly validates images to ensure they meet guidelines and reduces the likelihood of image rejections and improves image quality and aesthetics while allowing users to select the background from a set of options. 

This improvement applies to both real-time images and existing ones uploaded by restaurant partners. Images captured by the owners become live on Swiggy within a few hours. 

The foodtech unicorn claimed that the higher-quality images can potentially lead to up to five times more orders. Further, Swiggy claimed that around 10,000 restaurants have adopted this feature within a month of its release. 

The launch seems to be part of Swiggy’s efforts to leverage AI and offer more features to its restaurant partners.

Earlier in July, Swiggy launched several generative AI-based products, including a food recommendation tool. In a blog post, CTO Madhusudan Rao said that Swiggy’s ‘neural search’ is an AI chatbot that offers personalised recommendations for a user’s open-ended and conversational queries.

At the time, the startup said it would be running pilots for the same in September, though it has yet to provide any updates on that front. 

In September this year, Swiggy also launched a digital learning academy, Learning Station, to support the growth of its restaurant partners. Prior to that, it launched a dashboard, called Network Expansion Insights, to help restaurant partners take informed decisions on their expansion plans.

The developments come at a time when Swiggy is reportedly eyeing a public listing next year. However, the company continues to be bogged down by losses. While Swiggy is yet to release the financial statements for FY23, it posted a loss of INR 3,628.9 Cr in FY22 on an operating revenue of INR 6,119.8 Cr.

Meanwhile, Swiggy’s rival Zomato last week reported its second consecutive profitable quarter, posting profit after tax of INR 36 Cr in Q2 FY24.

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