The food-tech company Zomato hit the headlines last week after it announced a pure veg green fleet to cater to the demands of its vegetarian customers.
In a recent statement made by the firm’s CEO, Deepinder Goyal stated that the company did a large survey of people who are more than 50 years old.
An overwhelming majority said they needed a veg-only option and preferred veg-only restaurants. As it was a large customer segment, they thus launched it. They did not expect such an uproar. The survey had 1,600 (people) and about 72 percent of people said that they wanted veg-only delivery.
Deepinder Goyal has been highly active on social media these days, making frequent statements to protect the company’s reputation from being smeared by negative remarks. Goyal made it clear that the decision was not taken to stir up any controversy nor to support any ideology or practice, it was just an initiative by the company, pertaining to the survey done, to fulfill the demands of those who wanted their food to be made and delivered in a pure veg atmosphere.
Tracing down from where it all started
On March 19, Zomato announced the introduction of a ‘pure veg’ delivery fleet donning green uniforms to meet the demands of vegetarian customers.
As per this initiative, the food delivery app will collaborate with only those restaurants that serve pure vegetarian food, and delivery partners of this fleet will not handle nor deliver non-veg food parcels. Though this decision was envisaged as prolific by the company, it faced severe backlash from the netizens on its social media accounts.
On one hand where some appreciated and applauded this decision of Zomato but on the other hand, many deemed this decision as a perpetrator of communal hatred and highlighted the point that it hampered the security of those who prefer to eat non-veg food.
Zomato’s response to this unexpected uproar
A day after the introduction of the pure veg fleet, Deepinder Goyal took to X and announced that the company has scrapped the green dress code for its ‘pure veg’ fleet.
“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 declared.
He also shed some light on the safety of the delivery partners by his statement – “This will ensure that our 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”.
With the declaration he also scrapped the remarks of casteism and political propaganda, “Please note that this Pure Veg Mode or the Pure Veg Fleet doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference,” he said.
As per the reports of NDTV, CEO Deepinder Goyal said that the food delivery app Zomato’s top executives attended a Zoom call that went on for over 20 hours to find a way out of the massive row over its announcement of a ‘pure veg’ fleet, “We had done our base work and surveys.
We were expecting a little bit of noise. About 80 percent of the reactions were positive while 20 percent was negative. And 20 percent is a lot. We have been through such times,” he said. Goyal reported Economic Times that the company did not expect any backlash and was taken aback by the negative feedback which resulted in a swift response to address all concerns.
Goyal’s take on vegetarian dietary choices
Zomato CEO gave his take on dietary preference and said, “In India, many non-vegetarians turn vegetarian during festivals or rituals. That’s how the country has always been. But food often gets politicized. People in our friends’ circle who have gone on meditation retreats have come back saying they will be vegetarians from now on. It’s a deeply spiritual thing. They don’t want to hurt anyone. It’s the principle of nonviolence rather than anything to do with religion or caste.”
