Relief for restaurants! Zomato to charge zero commission on takeaway service

Zomato has announced that apart from launching its takeaway service at a much bigger scale, the company has made the service available to restaurants at zero commission. "We are introducing takeaway/self-pickup services at a much larger scale than before. Also making this service commission-free for our restaurant partners," Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal said.

Talking about a strong comeback of the food ordering business after COVID-19 curbs, the company has said its food delivery business has reached 110 per cent of the pre-Covid GMV run rate. "Over 55,000 restaurants are already live for takeaway on Zomato and we are serving tens of thousands of such orders weekly," said Goyal.

Assuring customers about the safety and hygiene, Zomato in a statement said it reported zero cases of Covid transmission despite delivering over 13 crore orders since lockdown in March.

Also read: Zomato raises $195 mn; WHO to set up traditional medicine centre

"WHO has said that food delivery is safe and people should not fear food packaging. We have delivered over 13 crore orders since the first lockdown started in March, and there have been zero reported cases of covid transmission through food or its packaging," said Zomato.

While the above signs have been more than encouraging, this growth has not been uniform and the overall foodservice industry is still far from full recovery.

The company is focusing on finding more ways to safely serve customers while helping restaurant partners grow, it said, adding that one common solution was the option for customers to pick up its own orders.

This will encourage those who haven't ordered since the first lockdown to visit its partner restaurants and choose takeaway options. Restaurants will also benefit as they could see more footfall.

"Therefore, for restaurants to be able to tap into this demand immediately, we are making our takeaway service available for free to our restaurant partners. We will not be charging any commission, and will also forego the payment gateway charges we incur on all takeaway orders," the company said.

Zomato recently raised $195 million (about Rs 1,455.4 crore) in funding from six investors including Luxor, Kora and Steadview, valuing the online food ordering platform at $3.6 billion.

Also read: Zomato raises $195 million from 6 investors, valued at $3.6 billion