Earlier this week, Zomato rolled out “Pure Veg Mode” for vegetarians across the country. Announcing the new feature on the food delivery app, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal said, “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.To solve their dietary preferences, we are launching a “Pure Veg Mode” along with a “Pure Veg Fleet” on Zomato, for customers who have a 100% vegetarian dietary preference.”
Explaining the “Pure Veg Mode”, Goyal said, “Pure Veg Mode will consist of a curation of restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food, and will exclude all restaurants which serve any non-veg food item.” He added, “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.”
While announcing the “pure Veg Mode”, Zomato also said that there will be ‘Pure Veg’ fleet wearing Green uniforms to deliver these orders, unlike the Red uniform that Zomato delivery partners wear.
The announcement sparked backlash as well as some praise from certain quarters. This made the company roll back the ‘Pure Veg’ fleet in less than 24 hours post its announcement.
What Zomato said on rolling back the Green uniform
“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 in an update post on X, formerly Twitter.
He further said that the fleet meant for vegetarian orders would not be identifiable on the ground but would show on the Zomato app and assured customers that their veg orders would be served by the Veg Only fleet. “This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked” by gated communities, he said.
He further said that post feedback the company realised that some customers as well as delivery partners may land in trouble due to this. Elaborating on the rationale behind the rollback, Goyal said this will ensure that Zomato’s Red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special days.
“Our riders’ 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 thing if that happened because of us,” he said.
He concluded the long post by thanking netizens for their feedback, as he said, “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”.
Explaining the “Pure Veg Mode”, Goyal said, “Pure Veg Mode will consist of a curation of restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food, and will exclude all restaurants which serve any non-veg food item.” He added, “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.”
While announcing the “pure Veg Mode”, Zomato also said that there will be ‘Pure Veg’ fleet wearing Green uniforms to deliver these orders, unlike the Red uniform that Zomato delivery partners wear.
The announcement sparked backlash as well as some praise from certain quarters. This made the company roll back the ‘Pure Veg’ fleet in less than 24 hours post its announcement.
What Zomato said on rolling back the Green uniform
“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 in an update post on X, formerly Twitter.
He further said that the fleet meant for vegetarian orders would not be identifiable on the ground but would show on the Zomato app and assured customers that their veg orders would be served by the Veg Only fleet. “This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked” by gated communities, he said.
He further said that post feedback the company realised that some customers as well as delivery partners may land in trouble due to this. Elaborating on the rationale behind the rollback, Goyal said this will ensure that Zomato’s Red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special days.
“Our riders’ 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 thing if that happened because of us,” he said.
He concluded the long post by thanking netizens for their feedback, as he said, “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”.