Hours after online food delivery platform Zomato announced the launch of a ‘Pure Veg Mode’ along with a ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ for pure vegetarian customers, Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU) asked Zomato’s co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal if the firm ‘will now also filter out delivery workers who are vegetarian only to service this fleet’.
TGPWU’s founder-president Shaik Salauddin also asked Deepinder Goyal if Zomato in the future also take customer feedback about who can deliver their food and who cannot.
Salauddin released an official statement after Zomato’s new move and opined that it will enable deliveries from pure veg restaurants only, and exclude 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?” Salauddin asked in the official statement.
“If Zomato has today launched a ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ in response to customer feedback and requirements, then it will in the future also take customer feedback about who can deliver their food and who cannot? Will it filter our delivery brothers and sisters by caste, community and religion?” he asked.
He recalled a 2019 incident when Zomato found itself in a tight spot when a customer declined to accept food from a Muslim delivery person. The incident had blown up on social media, as Zomato stood by its delivery boy even as the angry customer tweeted about not accepting the meal from a non-Hindu and cancelled the order.
Salauddin further asked, “Will Zomato assure its delivery workers that it will also address the safety and dignity of our brothers and sisters in the future?”
Earlier in the day, Deepinder Goyal announced the launch of a ‘Pure Veg Mode’ along with a ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ for its vegetarian customers, citing feedback from vegetarian customers as the reason.
Taking to X, Goyal wrote, “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 further added, “To solve for 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.”
Goyal further mentioned that the ‘Pure Veg Mode’ would consist of a curation of restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food.
However, he added that the new service doesn’t serve or alienate any religious, or political preference.
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Published: 19 Mar 2024, 10:41 PM IST