Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted on Zomato's 10-minute delivery service
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal has read out the fine print of the food-ordering app's latest 10-minute delivery service, a day after the company's move was criticised by some as an open door to push delivery partners into a tough and unsafe working environment.
Mr Goyal tweeted the 10-minute delivery service "will be for specific nearby locations, popular and standardised items only."
"Hello twitter, good morning. I just want to tell you more about how 10-minute delivery works, and how it is as safe for our delivery partners as 30-minute delivery. This time, please take 2 minutes to read through this (before the outrage)," Mr Goyal tweeted this morning.
He said Zomato delivery partners are not informed about the promised delivery time for both 10- and 30-minute deliveries.
"No penalties for late deliveries. No incentives for on-time deliveries for both 10- and 30-minute deliveries," Mr Goyal said on a Twitter thread. "We are building new food stations to enable to 10-minute service for specific customer locations only," he added.
Many on social media yesterday labelled the 10-minute food service as unnecessary and potentially dangerous for delivery partners. Cyber security expert Jiten Jain was among the several people who expressed concern that Zomato's 10-minute delivery promise would make the job of delivery partners tougher. "10 minutes sounds amazing as a customer. But honestly this would surely make your delivery staff tense and reckless. Am sure, 30 minutes is worth waiting for delicious food arriving at our doorsteps," Mr Jain tweeted.
Responding to such criticism, Mr Goyal in today's tweet said 10-minute deliveries will lead to lesser time spent on the road per order. "We continue to education our delivery partners on road safety, and provide accidental and life insurance as well," Mr Goyal said.
"Yes, we will also serve you Maggi through our 10-minute food stations," he added, alluding to memes that compared Zomato's ultrafast service with Maggi's "2-Minute Noodles" brand identity.
On a question about what items could customers expect in 10 minutes, Mr Goyal replied, "Bread, omelette, poha, coffee, chai, biryani, momos, etc."