Zomato Ltd. on Tuesday announced a ‘pure veg fleet' that would enable customers to order from only vegetarian restaurants. The plan included food delivery in green boxes. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal took to social media platform X to announce the dedicated fleet.
However, the feature received backlash from several users, who said housing societies and residents' welfare associations (RWA) could start discriminating against customers ordering non-veg food. They said the feature could become a setback for customers residing in such complexes.
Goyal had shared his reason for introducing the feature. The post read, "I have received an overwhelmingly positive response on this launch from so many people. A lot of comments from young people who eat non-veg food saying, 'now my parents can also use Zomato'."
He further added that the feature strictly served a dietary preference. He said there were several customers who would never order from a restaurant that served meat, irrespective of their religion or caste.
“Despite everyone's best efforts, sometimes the food spills into the delivery boxes. In those cases, the smell of the previous order travels to the next order and may lead to the next order smelling of the previous order. For this reason, we had to separate the fleet for veg orders,” the post read.
Elaborating on the reason for separate fleets he stated that participation in their veg delivery fleet would not discriminate based on the delivery partner's dietary preferences. "There's an opinion that some societies and RWAs will now not let our regular fleet in. The team will stay alert for any such cases and work with these RWAs to not let this happen," Goyal had said.
“We understand our social responsibility due to this change, and we will not back down from solving it when the need arises. And I promise, that if we see any significant negative social repercussions of this change, we will roll it back in a heartbeat,” the Zomato CEO's post read.
I have received an overwhelmingly positive response on this launch from so many people. A lot of comments from young people who eat non-veg food saying “now my parents can also use zomato”.
March 19, 2024
I would like to repeat that this feature strictly serves a dietary preference. And I know…Goyal had claimed the feature was introduced because India had the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world. He also backed up his decision citing customer feedback.
India has the largest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedback we've gotten from them is that they are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled.
March 19, 2024The CEO shared a glimpse of one of their pure veg fleet deliveries on platform X.
On that note, just stepping out to deliver some pure veg orders with @rrakesh_15 with our newly launched Pure Veg Fleet. See ya! pic.twitter.com/Q4HdhyDMFN
March 19, 2024On Wednesday, though, Goyal announced that Zomato riders will not don green uniforms.
"While we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians, we have decided to remove the on-ground segregation of this fleet on the ground using the colour green. All our riders - both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will wear the colour red," Goyal said.
Update on our pure veg fleet —
March 20, 2024
While we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians, we have decided to remove the on-ground segregation of this fleet on the ground using the colour green. All our riders — both our regular fleet, and our fleet for vegetarians, will…Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
