Before e-commerce giants like Swiggy and Zomato turned synonymous with the delivery providers ecosystem, such duties have been often entrusted to native providers working inside a restricted radius. Even as the large gamers proceed to maintain sway over the sector, smaller, impartial providers proceed to maintain their very own, one of them being Kovai Delivery Services — Coimbatore’s very personal Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto and Porter rolled into one — dealing with every thing from restaurant deliveries to groceries and miscellaneous packages.
At the helm is David Raja, who runs the service from his workplace in Ram Nagar, with delivery executives stationed on the metropolis’s main hubs from RS Puram to SITRA. Deliveries are priced at ₹80 for the primary 5 kilometres, with an further ₹15 per additional kilometre. David launched Kovai Delivery Boys in 2016, and has remained in enterprise amidst the entry of greater gamers in the market, even popping out with a cellular app in 2023. Entering its tenth year, David displays on a decade’s journey, its numerous challenges, setbacks, and comebacks.
From accountant to entrepreneur
Before he determined to strike it out on his personal, David, a commerce graduate, was working as an accountant at a personal agency, the place work hours started at 8 in the morning and lasted till 10 in the night time. It was a gruelling schedule with little or no in phrases of rewards. “It then became a question of what I could take up that would make a difference,” he says including that it was then that the concept of a neighborhood delivery service, one that might deal with orders starting from eating places to grocery shops and supermarkets, occurred. In a way, one might say he was forward of the curve when he entered the market. David recollects how in the preliminary days, he would deal with all of the deliveries himself on his two-wheeler. “There were no apps back then, only a phone number that the client would use to place orders,” he provides. With optimistic suggestions , he was quickly in a position to broaden his operations, and had a fleet of round 30 delivery executives. “We’ve never relied on advertising campaigns or anything of that sort. There was always enough word-of-mouth to keep us going,” says the founder.
Among those that joined David when he opened his delivery service is N Vignesh, who has remained with the corporate over its 9 years. “The fact that we have fixed work timings — with an hour in between for lunch break — and no delivery targets to achieve is what sets us apart from the other businesses,” he says. It all appeared clean crusing till the delivery apps, Swiggy and Zomato among the many most outstanding, made their entrance in the town. The apps actually introduced an entire plethora of choices, proper from the selection of restaurant to the actual dish, at one’s fingertips. This basically turned a physique blow for David, who had nurtured a loyal workforce. “At first, it was the clients who left us; not long after, we lost more than half our staff to these platforms. Business really took a hit. Those days were the toughest,” David says, trying again to these instances when enterprise had slowed down to the extent the place he was barely making ₹300 a day in deliveries. But giving up merely wasn’t an choice for him.
The workforce handles every thing from restaurant deliveries and groceries to miscellaneous packages and extra
| Photo Credit:
Siva Saravanan S
Resurgence
However, it wasn’t lengthy earlier than issues started to get higher. At the peak of the pandemic, when individuals have been largely confined to their houses, demand for delivery executives started to skyrocket.
“Infection rates were at their peak, and there were strict curbs on venturing outside. This led to higher demand for delivery executives to deliver essentials. Since people across sectors, even in the police sector, were dependent on delivery executives to an extent where the big players couldn’t afford to meet, we found ourselves back in business,” says David. Furthermore, there was appreciable disenchantment amongst gig employees in direction of the bigger platforms, which additionally contributed to many, together with a number of of his personal former employees, leaping camp.
If staff like Vignesh have resisted the lure of the larger gamers in the enterprise, it’s for good purpose. “The incentives are better compared to the other delivery platforms, and so are the working conditions,” he mentioned. Several of the corporate’s very long time employees have additionally had their loyalty rewarded. S Rangadurai, who joined the agency in 2018 as a delivery govt, now heads a workforce of 10 delivery executives. “There are five such heads in the company, each in charge of teams of anywhere between 10to 15 executives,” says Rangadurai.
Realising he had to up his sport somewhat extra, David launched the Kovai Delivery Boys app in 2023. (*10*) he added. While the app has the standard choices for meals delivery from a plethora of eating places, it goes past simply that: customers can e book equipment repairs, house portray, and even packing and transferring providers. And it now has a workforce of round 50 to 60 delivery executives, which incorporates full-time staff in addition to half timers.
David’s perseverance appears to have paid off in the long term. His delivery executives now make upwards of ₹1,000 a day in deliveries, however the battle is much from over for him. The app, he feels, hasn’t but discovered the large attain he’d like for it to, and phone orders have fashioned the majority of his enterprise. “Orders via our app are only about 20%,” he admits. That’s the opposite turnaround David is betting on.
You can obtain Kovai Delivery Boys app ( on playstore) and Vickee Kovai Delivery BOYS Vickee ( on Apple i retailer) or name 9944205765/ 9787351919
Published – October 06, 2025 04:56 pm IST
