Zomato’s top team was on a Zoom call for over 20 hours to find a way out of the massive row over its announcement of a ‘pure veg’ food delivery service, CEO Deepinder Goyal told NDTV today. Mr Goyal today received the Entrepreneur Of The Year award from Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and NDTV Executive Director Senthil Chengalvarayan at the NDTV Indian Of The Year awards.

Asked what would be his message to a young India that wants to be as successful as him, he said, “I come from a very small town in Punjab. The only message is no matter where you are born, no matter what background you come from, you can actually make it.”

Mr Goyal was then asked questions about the massive row over Zomato’s announcement of a ‘pure veg’ fleet earlier this week. Under this service, Zomato will rope in restaurants serving only vegetarian food and delivery partners in this service won’t handle non-vegetarian food packets. Initially, Zomato had also announced a green uniform for its ‘pure veg’ delivery partners.

The announcement triggered an outcry on social media. While some equated to a form of modern-day casteism, others pointed to practical problems. Some users pointed out how a different colour scheme for vegetarian food orders may create trouble for those ordering non-vegetarian items. They said tenants may then be questioned by landlords about their food habits and residential complexes dominated by vegetarians may bar red-uniformed Zomato partners altogether on certain days.

Mr Goyal and his team responded swiftly and scrapped the separate uniform plan. He said Zomato will have a ‘pure veg’ fleet and it will show on the app that it is delivering orders that opt for this service. But all delivery partners will continue to wear the red uniform.

The Zomato CEO thanked the social media for the feedback. “You made us understand the unintended consequences of this rollout. All the love, and all the brickbats were all so useful – and helped us get to this optimal point. We are always listening, without unnecessary ego, or pride.,” he posted on X.

Speaking to NDTV, Mr Goyal shared what prompted them to introduce the ‘pure veg’ fleet. “We did a large survey saying ‘what will make you order from Zomato more’. And this came up,” he said.

“The way we grew up, we don’t know the meanings of these words, what is the historical context and none of our team (members) know this. We are indifferent to this. I think that’s the purest form of letting go of any casteism, any religion, any biases. We went on and did the change. But when we got the feedback, we actually understood. And we were on a Zoom call for the next 20 hours, just trying to fix anything that we needed to fix,” he added, describing what went behind the scenes as Zomato trended on the social media.

In his social media posts, Mr Goyal had earlier stressed that the ‘pure veg’ service strictly serves a dietary preference, irrespective of a person’s religion or caste.

“Please note that this Pure Veg Mode, or the Pure Veg Fleet doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference,” he had said.

In a lighter vein, NDTV also asked Mr Goyal if he had ever ordered food through Swiggy, Zomato’s top competitor in the food delivery aggregator space. “Never,” he replied with a smile.

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New Delhi:

After facing a backlash online from a section of people over the launch of the “Pure Veg Mode” service, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on Tuesday said the food delivery platform will “roll it back in a heartbeat” in case there is a negative social repercussions.

In a long late night post on X, Mr Goyal also sought to allay concerns that Zomato’s regular fleet may be barred by some societies and RWAs.

“There’s an opinion that some societies and RWAs will now not let our regular fleet in. We will stay alert for any such cases and work with these RWAs to not let this happen.

“We understand our social responsibility due to this change, and we will not back down from solving it when the need arises,” he said.

“Please note that this Pure Veg Mode, or the Pure Veg Fleet doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference,” he clarified.

Mr Goyal elaborated upon the reason behind introduction of the company’s “Pure Veg Mode” service.

“But why did we need to separate the fleets? Because 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 Zomato CEO said.

He emphasised that the new service strictly serves a dietary preference irrespective of a person’s religion or caste and delivery partners’ participation in the new fleet will not be decided on their dietary preferences.

“I would like to repeat that this feature strictly serves a dietary preference. And I know there are a lot of customers who would never order food from a restaurant which serves meat, irrespective of their religion/caste,” Mr Goyal said.

He concluded the post by promising that Zomato will roll back the Pure Veg Mode service in the event of significant negative social repercussions.

“And I promise, that if we see any significant negative social repercussions of this change, we will roll it back in a heartbeat,” Mr Goyal said.

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”.

I would like to repeat that this feature strictly serves a dietary preference. And I know…

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 19, 2024

The Zomato co-founder announced the launch of a “Pure Veg Mode” service on Tuesday to cater to customers who have a pure vegetarian dietary preference.

Mr Goyal cited feedback from vegetarian customers as the reason behind the launch and said that the online food delivery platform is also introducing a “Pure Veg Fleet” in India for customers who follow a 100 per cent vegetarian diet.

“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,” Mr Goyal said in a series of posts on X.

“To solve for (sic) their dietary preferences, we are today, launching a ‘Pure Veg Mode’ along with a ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ on Zomato, for customers who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference,” he said.

He said that for the ‘Pure Veg Mode’ the company will rope in select restaurants serving exclusively vegetarian food, and exclude any establishments offering non-vegetarian items.

The Pure Veg Fleet will use green delivery boxes instead of the standard red ones, he said.

Mr Goyal said that these delivery persons will exclusively deliver orders from pure vegetarian restaurants and won’t handle any non-vegetarian meals.

Additionally, they won’t enter non-vegetarian restaurants while carrying the green delivery box.

“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,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Food-delivery platform Zomato has launched a “Pure Veg Mode” for customers who have a 100 per cent vegetarian dietary preference. The “pure” vegetarian food would be delivered by the newly-launched “Pure Veg Fleet”. The new fleet would sport a green uniform and delivery box in contrast to Zomato’s trademark red t-shirts and bags. “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,” Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal posted on X. The “Pure Veg Mode” has been launched, Mr Goyal said, “to solve their dietary preferences”.

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.

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 19, 2024

Mr Goyal was even seen stepping out “to deliver some pure veg orders” in a photo he shared on 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

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 19, 2024

The latest mode will consist of restaurants that serve only vegetarian food and will be rolled out in a phased manner across the country in the next few weeks. “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,” he said.

The announcement has drawn mixed reactions on social media. Several praised the new marketing technique – “No One Understands Marketing and PR Better Than Zomato,” wrote one user – while several criticised the move as discriminatory – “This is deeply disturbing because now many housing societies will just ban the entry of red-shirted Zomato delivery persons,” wrote another.

Some even claimed they deleted the app from their phone over the “casteist and criminal” move.

Deepinder Goyal, however, insisted that the new move “doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference”.

Zomato is also planning to add more specialised fleets for special customer needs in the future. “For example, there’s a special cake delivery fleet coming up with hydraulic balancers which prevent your cake from getting smudged during delivery.” Mr Goyal said.