Zomato is one of the biggest food delivery startups in India. The startup was founded in 2008. Through its app, the startup provides information, menus, and user-reviews of restaurants, and also has food delivery options from partner restaurants in selected cities. With its enormous ambitions, Zomato faces challenges in its home country.
Zomato Expansion
Zomato is actively expanding its reach in the country. It plans to serve dozens of new cities and towns every month. Thus, it is investing heavily in building cloud kitchens in order to quickly meet customers’ demand for certain food items.
Other than that, the startup currently is also working with ‘Project Kisan’. The partnership aims to procure raw material directly from farmers and fishermen to better control the supply of items to restaurants. Besides, the startup also wants to deliver foods by using drones.
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Above all, Zomato also has launched a feature named Zomato Gold. The feature allows users to eat at home with a two-year-old subscription service. Besides, the feature also gives dining in users the access to discounted deals on food and drinks.
The feature has become a hit. The feature has amassed more than 800,000 customers. Thus, the startup expects Gold to bring in $20 million to $25 million in revenue by the end of this year.
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The Steeping Road
Before extending the new feature, Zomato Gold’s genesis has come under severe scrutiny. The scrutiny comes from a number of restaurant partners in India. They say that the startup’s offering is hurting their bottom line and brand image.
There have been more than 2,000 of the 6,500 restaurant partners of Zomato Gold opted out of the program in recent days.
The disruption occurred over the weekend. Specifically, after the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), launched a #LogOut campaign against Zomato and other dining startups such as Nearbuy, Dineout, EazyDiner, and Magicpin. NRAI is a trade body that represents more than 500,000 restaurants in the country.
The disruption made the feature’s benefit, which programmed for a limited number of subscribers, accessible for all users. After the incident, Zomato promises to improve this feature. Yet, many expect that the move will be harder.
