Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal has said a "mehmaan mode" will be added to the food delivery app this week, after a LinkedIn user suggested it as a way to spare hosts the awkwardness of guests seeing prices.
The idea came from Ayushmaan Agarwalla, a marketing manager at Itu Chaudhuri Design, who tagged Goyal in a post titled "Mehmaan Mode on Zomato".
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He called it "a small feature recommendation" and wrote that Zomato "should have a simple 'mehmaan mode'". In his post, he described it as a setting that hides prices, so a host can pass the phone around and let guests choose what they want without discomfort.
The host can then take the phone back and make the payment.
Agarwalla said he had seen the practice of passing a phone around to place orders becoming more common.
He summed up the benefit as "No price, no embarrassment and no hesitation". He added that the feature would be especially useful in the festive season, when homes tend to fill with visitors.
Goyal replied under the post, with the response drawing a wave of reactions. "Thanks for the suggestion. Shipping it this week," he wrote. He closed by wishing Agarwalla "the happiest festive season".
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Neither the post nor the reply gave details of how the feature would work, or whether it would be switched on by the host or the guest.
Goyal founded Zomato in 2008 and led its parent company, Eternal, as group chief executive for nearly 18 years. He stepped down from the role on February 1 and remains on the board as vice chairman.
Blinkit co-founder Albinder Dhindsa took over as Eternal's group CEO. Eternal also runs Blinkit, District and Hyperpure.
Food delivery platforms have been adding features aimed at group orders and shared meals.
A guest-friendly mode that hides prices would address a smaller, social problem. It would suit the many Indian households that host guests during the festive season and prefer to pay for the meal themselves.
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