Zomato announced on Monday that it would soon begin its 10-minute food delivery service, Zomato Instant.
The company noted that sorting restaurants by fastest delivery time is one of the most used features on the Zomato app.
Zomato’s Founder, Deepinder Goyal tweeted a blog post saying, “Here’s how Zomato Instant will achieve the impossible while ensuring delivery partner safety.”
“After becoming a frequent customer of Blinkit (one of Zomato’s investments in the quick commerce space), I started feeling that the 30-minute average delivery time by Zomato is too slow,” Goyal’s statement in the blog said.
The company plans to launch Zomato Instant with four stations in Gurugram from next month. “We do not put any pressure on delivery partners to deliver food faster. Nor do we penalise delivery partners for late deliveries,” the company said.
Goyal shares explainer cards of Zomato Instant service
Zomato is optimistic of delivering food to customers in 3-6 minutes with the delivery partner riding at 20 kilometers per hour, according to a Twitter thread shared by Goyal. The company is building food stations to enable the service in specific customer locations only.
The delivery partners are not informed about the promised delivery time for both 10-minute and 30-minute delivery. The company neither levies penalty for late deliveries nor provides incentives for on-time deliveries.
Backlash on Twitter
Twitterati trolled the company’s Zomato Instant offering. Many called it unnecessary and potentially dangerous for delivery partners.
Cyber security expert, Jiten Jain tweeted, “30 mins is worth waiting for delicious food arriving at our doorsteps.”
The safety of delivery partners and the quality of food delivered were the major concerns of several people. Congress leader and MP Karti Chidambaram tweeted, “This is absurd! It is going to put undue pressure on the delivery personnel, who are not employees and who have no benefits or security. I have raised this in Parliament and have written to the government. Will pursue this further.”
Here are some more reactions.