Zomato on Wednesday said that riders of its specialised fleet servicing vegetarian food orders will sport red colour. This decision came after the food delivery platform received widespread criticism for its decision to have a segreated fleet sporting green colour for vegetarian food deliveries.

In a post on X, Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato said, “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.”

This means that the fleet meant for vegetarian orders will not be identifiable on the ground but the app will show that consumer’s veg orders will be served by the veg only fleet, he added.

“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. 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 us,” Goyal added.

Acknowldgeing the widespread reaction Zomato received after it announced the launch of a specialised fleet for vegetarian food delevaries, Goyal added, “Thanks everyone for talking about this last night. 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 point. We are always listening, without unnecessary ego, or pride. We look forward to continue serving you.”

On Tuesday night, Goyal stressed that the new 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 religion/caste.”

“Please note that participation in our veg delivery fleet will not discriminate on the basis of our delivery partner’s dietary preferences,” he had stated.

At 11.47 a.m., Zomato’s share price gained ₹1.95, or 1.23 per cent, to trade at ₹159.90 on NSE.

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