Zomato Rolls Back Pure Veg Fleet Decision Amid Backlash and Safety Concerns

National News Health & Education

Posted by admin on 2024-03-20 |


Zomato Rolls Back Pure Veg Fleet Decision Amid Backlash and Safety Concerns

  • Zomato has decided to revert to its original red fleet after backlash from social media users and considerations of rider and customer safety. 
  • Earlier on March 19, Zomato said it had launched a ‘pure veg’ delivery fleet to serve customers with purely vegetarian dietary preferences. 
  • The announcement garnered mixed reactions from users, with many expressing concerns about the implications of such a decision, including potential harassment of delivery partners in the usual ‘Red’ fleet.

After facing backlash over its decision to launch a 'pure veg fleet' to cater to vegetarian customers, the company has reverse the decision to continue to with its trademark red instead of green as originally conceived by the delivery start-up.

Overview

On March 19, Zomato had announced the launch of a 'pure veg' delivery fleet aimed at serving customers with strictly vegetarian dietary preferences. Zomato said this segment was introduced after getting feedback from purely vegetarian customers who are very particular about how their food is cooked, and how their food is handled.

Zomato stated that the 'pure veg' delivery mode would involve a selection of restaurants serving only vegetarian food, excluding those offering any non-vegetarian items.

“Our dedicated Pure Veg Fleet will only serve orders from these pure veg restaurants. This means that a non-veg meal, or even a veg meal served by a non-veg restaurant will never go inside the green delivery box meant for our Pure Veg Fleet,” said Mr. Goyal in a post on his X timeline.

Discrimination Concerns

However, the decision was met with criticism on social media, with concerns raised about the potential for resident welfare associations (RWAs) to impose bans on Zomato delivery partners not wearing the green uniform of the 'Pure Veg Fleet'.

The plethora of these concerns prompted the Zomato to repeal its decision to launch ‘Pure Veg Fleet’.

“Our rider’s physical safety is of paramount importance to us. We now realise that even some of our customers could get into trouble with their landlords, and that would not be a nice if that happened because of us” Mr. Goyal said in his post on X.

What’s Next for Zomato?

Zomato also plans to add more specialised fleets for special customer needs. It said a special cake delivery fleet is coming up with hydraulic balancers which will prevent the cake from getting smudged during delivery.

Moreover, Zomato is establishing a facility for processing value-added food supplies under its Hyperpure vertical, including sauces, spreads, and pre-cut perishable products.