Mixed response to Zomato’s ‘pure veg’ mode; delivery execs in Bengaluru fear income loss

Bengaluru: City hoteliers have welcomed Zomato’s move to launch a ‘pure veg’ fleet of delivery personnel, though the food ordering platform is drawing flak online.

On Tuesday, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal announced on X (formerly Twitter) the launch of a 'Pure Veg Mode' with a separate fleet of delivery personnel. He noted that the mode will apply only for orders from vegetarian restaurants and will “exclude all restaurants that serve any non-vegetarian food items".

This did not go down well with netizens, who slammed the company for separating food based on preferences of a few customers.

Goyal initially announced delivery personnel will receive green boxes and uniforms over the next few weeks, but withdrew the decision citing the safety of delivery partners and customers.

Hotels prepping up

PC Rao, president of Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association, welcomed the decision. "There are instances of orders getting mixed up when the delivery executives take up combined orders, but it doesn't happen very often. Regardless, this is a good decision,” he said.

Santosh Shetty, owner of Hebbal’s Udupi Park Inn, hoped this would boost the business of pure veg restaurants, especially the city’s South Indian breakfast places.

Arun Adiga, owner of Vidyarthi Bhavan, is still on the fence about the benefits. "This benefits the customer more than anyone else. We are not sure how this will shape up; it depends on the end user. We might see more orders coming in after this is rolled out; we will manage them accordingly," he said.

However, a few deliveries personnel DH spoke to were of the opinion that this would adversely impact their earnings.

Suresh, a Zomato delivery personnel, noted that this would cut their daily earnings since they wouldn't be able to pick up any orders from vegetarian restaurants, many of which are popular breakfast places. "At least 70% of the fleet running now will be affected. This will help customers, but will affect our earnings," he said. 

Another delivery person echoed Suresh's opinions. "We are already struggling. This is going to put us in groups and will make it difficult for us to serve people overall," he said.