Users can now grab the cancelled orders on the platform at a lower price
In an effort to cut down on food wastage due to cancelled orders, Zomato has introduced a new feature on its platform, known as ‘Food Rescue’, which allows users to grab the cancelled orders at a lower price and in their original untampered packaging. To ensure freshness, the option to claim the cancelled items will only be available for a few minutes.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal, took to X and wrote, “We don’t encourage order cancellation at Zomato, because it leads to a tremendous amount of food wastage. Inspite of stringent policies, and a no-refund policy for cancellations, more than four lakh perfectly good orders get cancelled on Zomato, for various reasons by customers. The top concern for us, the restaurant industry, and even the customers who cancel these orders, is to somehow save the food from going to waste.”
Goyal informed that the cancelled order will pop up on the app for customers within a three kilometre (km) radius of the delivery partner carrying the order. The company will not keep any proceeds (except the required government taxes). The amount paid by the new customer will be shared with the original customer (if they made payment online), and with the restaurant partner.
However, distance and temperature sensitive orders such as ice creams, shakes, smoothies and certain perishable items will not be eligible for Food Rescue.
As per the new feature, the restaurant partners will be receiving the compensation for the original cancelled order along with a portion of the amount paid by the new customer in case the order gets claimed. The restaurants can opt out of this feature whenever they want.
“Food Rescue will show up on your home page automatically if there’s a canceled order available for you to grab. Refresh the home page to check for any newly available orders which need to be rescued,” Goyal further explained.
Clarifying further, Goyal stated that delivery partners will be compensated fully for the entire trip, from the initial pickup to the final drop-off at the new customer’s location. Responding to a query under the post, he added that the original customer will pay the cancellation fee, which is 100 per cent of amount of the cancelled order.
