Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal defends 10-minute food deliveries after backlash

Mumbai: Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, took to Twitter on Tuesday after the company’s new 10-minute good delivery service Zomato Instant was widely criticised on social media.

In a series of tweets, Goyal posted details about the ultra-fast delivery model, explaining how it would work. “Ten-minute delivery is as safe for our delivery partners as 30-minute delivery,” Goyal claimed.

He added that Zomato would not penalise delivery workers for late deliveries and offer no incentives for on-time deliveries either. In fact, delivery partners are not informed about the promised delivery time, Goyal said.




ETtech first reported on March 18, that Zomato was in discussions with restaurant partners and cloud kitchens to pilot 10-minute food delivery starting with Gurgaon.

Goyal said Zomato was building “new food stations” to enable this service in specific locations. Food stations are 700-1,200-sq-ft coworking-style facilities in warehouses that will house multiple brands.

Zomato is leasing new facilities and also using Hyperpure, its supplies business for restaurant partners, as warehouses for these food stations.

MP raises concerns

Goyal’s clarification came a day after the food delivery firm announced it would soon pilot 10-minute food delivery in Gurugram. Social media was flooded with posts criticising Zomato for allegedly putting delivery partners under risk by asking them to deliver food in 10 minutes. Karti P Chidambaram, Member of Parliament for Sivaganga also raised concerns about the quick service model.

Goyal responded to Chidambaram’s tweet with the same points he had tweeted earlier. “Ten-minute delivery will be for specific nearby locations, popular and standardised menu items only,” he tweeted.


How fast is too fast?

Ultra-fast delivery became a phenomenon in India last year after Zepto, Instamart and Blinkit launched 10-minute delivery services for groceries and essentials. Zomato is the first food delivery company to test meal delivery in 10 minutes.

These companies have been widely criticised for allegedly putting pressure on delivery partners and forcing them to drive dangerously.

Blinkit (formerly Grofers) faced similar criticism when it pivoted to 10-minute grocery delivery last year. At the time, founder Albinder Dhindsa had similarly defended his company’s decision. “Our stores are so densely located that we can deliver 90% of orders in under 15 minutes even if our riders drive at 10 kmph,” he wrote. “Our riders are not incentivised to deliver orders quickly. They do it at their own pace and rhythm,” he said.

Zomato is currently in talks to merge with Blinkit, as ET reported on March 15. It also announced that it had approved a plan to loan $150 million to Blinkit in phases.