Zomato withdraws ‘green fleet’ of veg delivery partners

Zomato has withdrawn its green fleet for delivering vegetarian food within a day of its launch on Tuesday.

In a detailed post on X, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal thanked social media users for "pointing out" the flaws in introducing a 'veg fleet'.

Zomato's delivery partners will only be sporting the red uniforms as earlier but the customers will get to see the notification that their vegetarian food is being delivered by the 'veg-only' fleet.

Goyal explained that this is being done to avoid discrimination against non-vegetarian food delivery partners and customers who have opted to order in non-veg food.

Amid an outcry over its announcement of a 'pure veg' fleet, Zomato has said all its delivery partners will continue to wear red.

"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."

Mr Goyal explained that customers who opt for the 'pure veg' option can see on the mobile app that their orders are being delivered by the 'veg only' fleet.

"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 rider's physical safety is of paramount importance to us," Goyal said in the tweet.

Update on our pure veg fleet —

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…

— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 20, 2024