Amid backlash, Zomato rolls back green uniform for 'Pure Veg Mode' fleet

Amid a backlash over its policy to introduce a new Pure Veg Mode service Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on Wednesday said the company will roll back the move to introduce green uniform for its new fleet clarifying that all its riders will continue to wear redThe Zomato CEO was in the eye of a storm after the launch of a Pure Veg Mode service intended for strictly vegetarian customers in India to be delivered by a Pure Veg Fleet Netizens expressed concern over the move saying that some societies and RWAs may not allow Zomatos regular fleet to enter on the basis of the redgreen colour segregationWhile we are going to continue to have a fleet for vegetarians we have decided to remove the onground 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 TwitterHe explained that the fleet meant for vegetarian orders would not be identifiable on the ground but would show on the Zomato app and reassured customers that their veg orders would be served by the Veg Only fleetElaborating on the rationale behind the decision Goyal said this will ensure that Zomatos red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with nonveg food and blocked by any RWAs or societies during any special daysFurther He emphasised our riders physical safety is of paramount importance to us adding 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 usGoyal concluded the long post on X by thanking netizens for their input 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 pointIn a long latenight post on X on Tuesday the Zomato CEO had said the food delivery platform will roll it back in a heartbeat in case it witnesses significant negative social repercussions arising from the moveGoyal had also sought to allay concerns expressed by some users that some societies and RWAs may not allow Zomatos regular fleet to enter after the launch of the Pure Veg Fleet in India for its pure vegetarian customersTheres an opinion that some societies and RWAs will now not let our regular fleet in We will stay alert for any such cases and work with these RWAs to not let this happen We understand our social responsibility due to this change and we will not back down from solving it when the need arises Goyal had saidHe elaborated upon the reason behind the introduction of the companys Pure Veg Mode serviceBut why did we need to separate the fleets Because despite everyones best efforts sometimes the food spills into the delivery boxes In those cases the smell of the previous order travels to the next order and may lead to the next order smelling of the previous order For this reason we had to separate the fleet for veg orders the Zomato CEO saidHe further emphasised that the new service strictly serves a dietary preference irrespective of a persons religion or casteI would like to repeat that this feature strictly serves a dietary preference And I know there are a lot of customers who would never order food from a restaurant which serves meat irrespective of their religioncaste Goyal saidHe also informed that participation in the companys Veg delivery fleet will not discriminate on the basis of its delivery partners dietary preferencesHe concluded the post by promising that Zomato will roll back the Pure Veg Mode service in the event of significant negative social repercussionsAnd I promise that if we see any significant negative social repercussions of this change we will roll it back in a heartbeat Goyal saidHe announced the launch of a Pure Veg Mode service on Tuesday to cater to customers who have pure vegetarian dietary preferencesGoyal cited feedback from vegetarian customers as the reason for the launch of the new service and informed that the online food delivery platform is also introducing a Pure Veg Fleet in India for customers who follow a 100 per cent vegetarian dietIn a series of posts on X formerly Twitter Goyal stated that India has the highest percentage of vegetarians globally and these new features were launched based on their feedbackThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever