At the end of 2019, Walid Madi, managing director of Talabat, a leading delivery company in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, was assessing the company’s performance of its non-food vertical division, and in particular the grocery segment. He identified recurring customer complaints regarding grocery delivery times and product unavailability, which could impact the company’s successful food vertical. Madi decided to explore the feasibility of offering customers a 20-minute grocery delivery time while ensuring full product availability.