‘All riders will wear red’: Zomato rolls back green uniform for pure-veg fleet amid social media backlash

Stung by an uproar over its ‘Pure Veg Mode’ service, Zomato has shelved its decision to introduce green uniforms for those delivering food to vegetarians as opposed to the usual red uniform.

“This will ensure that our red uniform delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food, and blocked by any resident welfare associations (RWAs) or societies during any special days...our riders’ physical safety is of paramount importance to us,” Zomato cofounder and chief executive Deepinder Goyal said in a post on X on Wednesday.

He said feedback received after Tuesday’s announcement indicated some of Zomato's "customers could get into trouble with their landlords".


"Fleet meant for vegetarian orders will not be identifiable on the ground (but will show on the app that your veg orders will be served by the veg only fleet),” he wrote.


Zomato announced on Tuesday that a dedicated fleet of delivery partners donning the green uniform will specifically cater to customers who have a vegetarian dietary preference. According to Goyal, ‘Pure Veg Mode’ consists of a curation of restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food, excluding all restaurants offering any non-vegetarian food items.

“Despite everyone's 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,” he had said justifying the decision to introduce green uniforms.



Previous run-ins

Several users had taken to social media to criticise Zomato’s move. They argued that the decision to differentiate fleet partners would perpetuate caste segregation. Some also raised concerns about the possibility of Zomato's regular fleet facing restrictions from some societies and RWAs.

In a press note, Shaik Salauddin, president of Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers, also raised concerns over the move, asking how the company would address safety and dignity of delivery workers.

Zomato had 419,000 average monthly active delivery partners in the December quarter.

This is not the first time the Gurugram-based company has faced public criticism for its actions.

Zomato faced backlash for an advertisement last year that linked the character ‘Kachra’ (a Dalit character from the movie ‘Lagaan’) with the Hindi term for garbage, aiming to highlight the company's recycling efforts. However, the ad was criticised for allegedly being casteist and insensitive. In response, Zomato removed the ad that had aired on World Environment Day in 2023.

Business call

According to Goyal, the latest move to have separate delivery partner uniforms was implemented considering India has the largest share of vegetarians in the world. It aligned with the broader strategy of the company to expand its total addressable market.

Zomato said in its December quarter earnings call that it expects monthly transacting customers (MTC) to play a key role in driving growth, along with new customers.

The food delivery business saw a 27% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in gross order value (GOV) last quarter. The company expects this segment's GOV to maintain an over 20% growth rate with the possibility of further acceleration if it sees higher-than-expected market share gains and experiences a revival in macro consumer demand.