The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Nothing illustrates this idea better than Zomato’s Green Fleet fiasco.
The homegrown food delivery company has been forced to shut down, just one day after announcing it would launch a separate delivery company for “pure veg” consumers.
CEO Deepinder Goyal announced to Mr. X on March 19 that the company has found a way to meet the needs of India’s large vegetarian population.
Zomato’s Green Fleet service provided a group of dedicated delivery partners who wore green uniforms and green boxes and delivered only food from ‘Pure Veg’ restaurants.
Mr. Goyal writes: “India has the highest percentage of vegetarians in the world, and one of the most important feedbacks we get from them is that they are very particular about how they prepare their food and how they handle their food. To address the food preferences of our customers, we today launched ‘Pure Veg Mode’ and ‘Pure Veg Fleet’ on Zomato for customers with 100% vegetarian food preferences. Pure Veg Mode consists of a selection of restaurants that serve only pure vegetarian food and excludes all restaurants that serve non-vegetarian food. ”
The event, which started with great fanfare, ended in an unexpected manner for Zomato. To the company’s horror, the announcement was not greeted with appreciation or applause, but instead met with fierce backlash.
Questions were asked about the need for such a service and whether red and green separation was such a pressing need. Some asked Zomato if its delivery partners were themselves “pure vegetarians,” a natural question given the company’s own strict stance on vegetarianism.
But the most persuasive criticism was about the underlying casteism behind such racism.
Is it bad taste or a bad move?
On paper, Zomato’s intentions were benign. India has the largest and formidable vegetarian population in the world. It makes perfect business sense to pay attention to the needs of a sizable group of consumers.
Sumit Sinha, Managing Partner, Alchemist Brand Consulting, said: . Similarly, a certain size of the population are “pure vegetarian” people. Serving this population is the right thing to do, and to some extent it is also right to prepare food in a ‘pure vegetable’ kitchen. ”
N Chandramouli, CEO of TRA Research, also believes that although the move was a genuine effort to serve a niche market, it was received in a bad taste.
“This was a smart business move, and I’m surprised there was backlash for such a thoughtful approach,” he said. It was a smart move and should have worked. ”
Similarly, Nisha Sampath, founder and brand consultant at Bright Angles Consulting, said, “Creating a separate service was the right move as there may have been demand from a specific segment of consumers.” It was,” he said.
But like many things in this country, this movement needs to be seen in India’s larger social context. Food taboos in India are often rooted in a history of caste, especially those around vegetables and non-vegetable foods.
Despite good intentions, it would be fair to say that Zomato’s approach was amateurish, and experts agree.
Sampath said, “They didn’t need to be too explicit. That’s where they went wrong. For the company, this move could have been a bigger opportunity to move into a niche area.”
For Sinha, involving delivery partners was a cardinal sin. “What do you mean, if someone delivers a vegetable food and a non-vegetable food, the vegetable food will be contaminated? Or does it mean that the delivery partner is also a vegetarian? This is a well-considered action. It wasn’t.
“Could they have done it differently or better? – Yes. One way could have been to keep separate containers or separate boxes,” he said. added.
Brownie Points on Zomato
Credit where credit is due. Zomato may have gotten some of the details wrong in running a service like this, but it’s good for the company to listen.
When the backlash grew, Zomato graciously accepted what had gone wrong, acknowledged how the distinction between red and green uniforms could compromise the safety of its delivery partners, and did the right thing.
“Thank you 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 helpful and we hope It helped me reach this sweet spot.
“This ensures that our red-uniformed delivery partners are not incorrectly associated with non-veg food or blocked by RWAs or associations on special occasions…Passengers’ physical safety is of utmost importance to us ” said Goyal.
“Unlike in the past, Zomato has taken swift action. I don’t think it will harm the brand image,” Chandramouli said.
Sampath praised Goyal for putting the safety of its delivery partners first, saying, “It was the right move by Goyal to put the safety of their delivery partners and consumers first. Goyal has always stood by their values. By withdrawing the uniform, Zomato once again proves that it cares about people and listens to its consumers.”
With input from Tanzila Shaik
