After gig workers question, Zomato scraps 'pure veg fleet', no more green bags

HYDERABAD: Zomato the Indian multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company has withdrawn its ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ initiative following the furor over its segregation on the on-ground fleet with a separate green colour, differentiating it from the regular red colour.

On Tuesday last, Deepinder Goyal the CEO of Zomato took to X and 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.

He said that Zomato launched “Pure Veg Mode" along with a “Pure Veg Fleet” on Zomato, for customers who have a 100 percent vegetarian dietary preference. He exaplianed that pure veg mode would consist of curation of restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food and would exclude all restaurants which serve any non-veg food item.

However, the pure veg fleet initiative drew flack from customers and also delivery persons.

Food doesn’t have religion-TGPWU

Shaik Salauddin, Founder-President, of Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) in response to Zomato's "Pure Veg Fleet" announcement said: “This option excludes those restaurants that serve both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. Our question to Deepinder ji: will Zomato now also filter out delivery workers who are vegetarian only to service this "Pure Veg Fleet", identifiable by green delivery bags?”.

If Zomato has today launched a "Pure Veg Fleet" in response to customer feedback and requirements, then would Zomato in the future also take customer feedback about who could deliver their food and who could not? Would it filter our delivery brothers and sisters by caste, community, and religion?, he asked the CEO.

“We would like to remind Zomato that in the past when a customer complained about "having to accept food from a Muslim delivery worker, Zomato stood by the worker and stated that, "Food does not have a religion. It is a religion."

He said that the gig workers were proud of the idea of India - and the diversity of esteemed customers. “Will Zomato assure its delivery workers that it will also address the safety and dignity of our delivery brothers and sisters in the future?” Salauddin said.

No on-ground segregation: Deepinder Goyal

On Wednesday Deepinder Goyal announced its plan to segregate ground crew in green and red.

“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,” he declared taking to X.

This meant that the fleet meant for vegetarian orders would not be identifiable on the ground (but would show on the app that veg orders would be served by the veg-only fleet).

“This will also ensure that Zomato’s red uniform delivery partners were 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,” he said.

The CEO said that the company realised that even some of their customers could get into trouble with their landlords, and that would not be a nice thing if that happened because of Zomato.

“Thanks, everyone for talking about this last night. 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. We look forward to continue serving you,” the CEO wrote.