‘All Our Riders Will Wear Red’: Zomato Withdraws Green Uniform For Veg Fleet

After a lot of feedback, criticism and enthusiasm for its plans to launch a ‘Pure Veg’ branded fleet of delivery services, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal on Wednesday said that they were rolling back the move to introduce green uniforms for its new fleet, clarifying that all their riders would 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,” Goyal wrote on social media platform X.

This comes a day after the platform launched the veg mode to facilitate delivery to its customers with pure vegetarian dietary preferences. Announcing the introduction of a “Pure Veg Fleet” for its 100% vegetarian customers in India, its founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal had also stepped out to deliver a few orders with CEO Rakesh Ranjan. In a series of posts on X, Goyal said India has the highest percentage of vegetarians globally, and these new features were launched based on their feedback.

The move to remove the colour differentiation is likely in response to users’ feedback that the distinction could allow for the identification of and likely targeting of non-veg eaters in housing societies or affect those who wish to exercise privacy regarding their food choices.

Confirming the same, Goyal continued, “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. We now realise that even some of our customers could get into trouble with their landlords, and that would not be a nice if that happened because of us.”

Goyal also expressed gratitude for the commentary that followed the company’s announcement of its new fleet.

“Thanks everyone for talking about this last night. You made us understand the unintended consequences of this rollout. All the love, and all the brickbats were all so useful – and helped us get to this optimal point. We are always listening, without unnecessary ego, or pride. We look forward to continue serving you,” he added.