Zomato

Zomato Rider Relief Fund

The restaurant industry is badly hit and it has unprecedented consequences for the industry’s daily wagers. We aren’t even sure how long this situation will last; as far as we can see, the restaurant industry will continue to be in stress for another 6-12 months.

Starting Up – Zomato Feeding Philippines

For the past few weeks, there has been a significant need for extending a helping hand to the underprivileged and daily wagers in the Philippines. We at Zomato want to be at the forefront of addressing such pressing issues especially during this time of need. In the past, we have worked with LGUs and the Robin Hood Army in conducting feeding programs to alleviate some of these problems and have achieved great results. 

Summary of all of Zomato’s COVID-19 related initiatives

None of us could have ever imagined or planned for the world we are living in today. The world has come to a halt, and unfortunately, the restaurant industry that we are in, is one of the worst hit. It is in times like these when we really need to rise to the occasion and support each other to the best of our abilities. At Zomato, we are doing everything we can to support our community – our customers, delivery partners, restaurant partners, and the daily wage workers who have been impacted the most in these times.

Update on Feed the Daily Wager

During these weeks of lockdown in our country, we saw many of our friends step out and take action in the hour of need. From NGO partners to individual volunteers (at Feeding India, we call them Hunger Heroes), the support has been overwhelming and we would like to thank them from the bottom of our heart for their courage and resilience to feed the people of our country.

Launching the Zomato Gold Support Fund

As restaurateurs fight to keep businesses running given the dented cash flows, millions of restaurant workers — housekeepers, cooks and servers — face the possibility of losing their livelihoods with very little savings to fall back.

The helping hands of our society need our help

Nearly 90% of India’s workforce belongs to the informal sector. That means, about 450 million Indians depend on daily wages to run their household.(1)

[India] Call for feedback – Restaurant Ratings v2

Over the last few years, the nature of the restaurant industry in India has changed, and food delivery has become a more important part of the ecosystem. At Zomato, we have started our own delivery fleet, launched ground-breaking products, and have learnt so much with each passing year. 

10 years and counting

I just finished 10 years at Zomato. I started at Zomato as a Data Collection Executive – I used to go through every street in Bangalore, collect updated menus from restaurants, identify new restaurant openings, and permanently ‘shut’ restaurants on Zomato when they ceased to exist in the real world. My job was to ensure that Zomato reflects the real-life status of the restaurant industry, as much as physically possible. 

The Deep Tech Behind Estimating Food Preparation Time

Have you ever wondered why we, as humans, have always gravitated towards things which can be done instantly? Why do instant noodles, instant coffee or ready-to-eat packed food find a place in our kitchens? 

Welcoming Uber Eats India users and partners to Zomato

We have acquired Uber Eats India and with this development, we are the undisputed market leaders in the food delivery category in India.

Say hello to Zomato at Jaipur Literature Festival this year

Zomato is delighted to announce its association as an activation partner with the 13th edition of Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), to be held at Diggi Palace next week. JLF, which was founded in 2006, will be held from January 23 to 27 this year, with day-long sessions from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm.

All new Search and Discovery on Zomato

Zomato brings us closer to the food we love in many different ways. It’s a one-stop-shop for finding the best pizzerias to order from, quirky cafes for perfect weekend brunches, or the newly opened brewhouses.

Gold Specials – Coming Soon!

A few weeks back, we witnessed a restaurant led push against Zomato Gold, where some restaurants abruptly ‘logged out’ of Gold expressing some dissatisfaction with some user policies of Gold. That led us to speak to and collect feedback from hundreds of our Gold partners. Based on the feedback we received, we rolled out some changes to Gold.

Huddle Diaries – iOS

As all Apple fans would say, we have seen iOS revolutionise the mobile operating system since 2007. Each year, we see iOS redefine simplicity and usability for its users. Isn’t that what the masses look for – something that’s super easy to understand, super easy to use, with minimal cognitive overload. It just works! If a system doesn’t make a user think, then the system does really know them well. 

Reviews 2.0 – the architecture behind tags

Since Zomato’s inception, our users have played an important role in helping people make informed decisions on what and where to eat. 

How India is coming of age – A Zomato Story

In more than 400 cities across India where Zomato operates, when you ask someone who has ordered food to name the app or website they use, the answer is Zomato. While launching new cities is hard work, it is extremely rewarding in multiple ways.

Clean food, cleaner environment

Cooking oil is the backbone of our industry – and when not used wisely, a notorious culprit in several health issues. Almost everything we eat uses edible oils and thus, the potential effect on food quality (read: your health) is extremely high.

Bigger, better, grander… Zomaland is back!

Zomaland, in its purest form, tells the story of the Zomato brand. Its evolution from search and discovery to delivery and pickup and more recently sustainability. 

Contribute to #ZeroHunger on World Food Day

To raise awareness about hunger and food wastage across the globe, Feeding India is launching the #IamFeedingIndia campaign from the 12th of October –  until World Food Day, on the 16th of October. 

Zomato H1 FY2020 Report

“One of the nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” – Unknown

Hunt for the best UX feedback

“Perfection is a necessary myth.” – Anonymous We value user inputs because it’s a reminder of how we can keep improving. At Zomato, we strive for the finest in product design and aren’t wary of acknowledging that there is always scope for improvement.

1000 restaurants are now LGBTQIA-friendly on Zomato

A couple of months ago, we introduced LGBTQIA tags for restaurants to help drive a change in mind-set. While we hoped for a time when the tag would be redundant, we committed ourselves to constantly signalling change. This particular decision was in line with our core values – there should be no place for prejudice and intolerance in our society whether it’s inside the workplace or a restaurant. Further, our ecosystem is so rich in diversity – users, restaurants and delivery partners – that we simply can’t make any distinctions based on prejudice or bias.

Reviews 2.0 – tags are a new content currency

In our last annual report, we talked about how deeply we care about “better food for more people” and how it is the very DNA for everything we do here at Zomato.

What would Zomato sound like?

You think of food, you think of Zomato. Over the years, we have put in significant effort in building a distinctive visual signature for Zomato while building a deep connect with food. Today, we believe, a message from Zomato should be identifiable even without the wordmark.

Introducing Zomato Originals

Biryani and Salan. Bacon and Eggs. Salt and Pepper. Pinot Noir and Caviar. Some things go together, and so do food and streaming videos. A lot of our users associate food with streaming online – consuming their favourite grub while watching something online has become the norm. Even if ‘binge-watching’ is a recent phenomenon, the classic TV Dinner is decades old.  And we are constantly trying to find ways to give our users more reasons to love food. 

Say hello to our latest app update

The Zomato experience is driven by the discovery of all things food – where to order from, where to eat out, getting the most out of your Gold membership and overall, making the right food decisions. Our engineering and design teams have worked closely over the past weeks to elevate these experiences for you.

Women in Tech – Chapter 3

Around September 2018, having more than a couple of years of experience in early stage startups, I was on the lookout for a change. I decided to search for a ‘well established and structured’ organisation as my next destination, where I could constantly develop my skills. 

Assam and Bihar Floods – our relief efforts so far

Last month, the states of Assam and Bihar witnessed devastating floods forcing millions to live amidst loss and destruction. The impact of the floods left many families without food and water; the loss of livelihood; as well as the loss of their loved ones. Thirty-three districts in Assam and 12 districts in Bihar were severely affected by the deluge – directly affecting over 4 million people. 

Zomato’s new Sushi Design System

Say hello to Sushi – Zomato’s all-new design system that we’ve built from the ground up. It’s not just a design system for us, but more than that it helps us provide a new and enhanced experience for our users using the Zomato app.

Huddle Diaries – Product Design

Zomato hosted the 6th edition of Huddle on Product Design to focus and propagate the importance of the very core of Product Development – User Centric Design.

Now serving in 500 cities in 🇮🇳

At the beginning of June this year, users in over 300 cities in India could order food through Zomato. Back then, we were under the assumption that we’ll reach the 500 milestone by the end of August, if not September. Turns out our food delivery services are growing faster than ever before. And we are already in 500 cities . 

Introducing Infinity Dining – An all-new way to dine out

Zomato Gold has been a blockbuster success for both diners and India’s restaurant industry. And today, we are adding something special exclusively for our Gold members. 

Rewarding restaurants for delivering great user experience – Edition One

Our restaurant partners play a major role in the food delivery ecosystem. In a world driven by technology, user experience has become a cornerstone for them as well. As enablers, it is therefore imperative that we put our money where our mouth is and reward restaurants which have obsessively put people before business.

Helping Assam & Bihar: #techforgood

In May, when Cyclone Fani hit Odisha, we used the strength of our platform to do our bit and galvanized our resources to help those affected on the ground. With the help of our users, our teams and the team at Feeding India, we were able to make quite a difference. We raised close to ₹1 crore – which supported 10 villages – and touched a lot of lives in a positive way. Staying true to our transparency principles, we shared a cent-by-cent report on how we utilized the collected funds for Odisha. 

Celebrating 11 years – our way

In the spirit of the tradition we started last year, we celebrated our 11th birthday by conducting a food drive and sharing a meal with the underserved in our societies.

Another step towards making Zomato the best place to work

At Zomato, we’ve committed to work-life integration and workplace sensitivity as core to employee happiness. Last month, we went ahead with a new 26-week parental leave policy – a move that has been largely appreciated by our employees, the media and our peers. Through the feedback, we realised that whether folks were parents or not, they were touched by our empathy. It was humbling reading all the emails and texts. 

Women in Tech – Chapter 2

I have been a part of the Zomato family for a little more than four years now, and it’s definitely been one hell of a journey. I began my career in the Content team, and I am now a part of the Product team. Yes, that happens here. Interest and ability are given shape, into super opportunities that can change your life.

Welcoming Feeding India to Zomato

Our mission at Zomato is better food for more people. We consider the underserved and the underprivileged as part of our purview of more people.

Test Flight – Success.

We have been busy trying to build the tech to get your food to you in less than 15 minutes. For us and you, speed means freshness – being able to savour the food that you order as close to the state in which it was prepared by the chef at the restaurant.

Women in Tech – Chapter 1

I still remember the day when I first came to Zomato, it was for one of their Tech Recruitment Programmes, Trial Week. I hadn’t really heard much about Zomato before this and honestly wasn’t sure if this was the space I wanted to be in. Adding on to this, there was a perception of Zomato as an organisation that frequently resorted to the concept of ‘hire fast, fire fast’, which made me increasingly hesitant to add Zomato to my list of top companies.

Engineers can now ‘demo’ working with Zomato

People join a company for the brand, and stay for the culture. Our Trial Week gives potential Zomans the chance to experience both the brand, and the culture – up close.

Finding vibe. And tribe.

It’s 9 am, and we’re ushered into a meeting room. Ashish, our friendly recruiter, informs us that ‘Deepi’ will take our first session. This is unprecedented, he says.

Introducing the new parental leave policy at Zomato

At Zomato, we believe that people produce their best work when their personal and professional goals meaningfully intersect and align. We have also always taken pride in building a culture of meritocracy – something which starts failing when it comes to equality between men and women at the workplace. This happens for various reasons – societal norms, precedents, and sometimes, even government policies.

Now serving 250 million Indians across 300 cities in India

If records are meant to be broken, what about the milestones? Particularly when we are running a marathon. A few weeks ago, we crossed the 200-city barrier for our food delivery business in India.

Our Android app has been eating but shedding weight

At Zomato, we never judge your eating habits. Whether it’s Biryani or Salads, we have everything you love! But unfortunately, people have been fat-shaming our android app for a while. Not cool – so we decided to do something about it.

Why we switched to Figma as the primary design tool at Zomato

I got the opportunity to be a part of Zomato’s kickass design team in 2018. What absolutely struck me was an extremely talented design army of independently different mindsets, all under one roof. There was a lot for me to learn and lots to share.

I am not a foodie

Once upon a time, there was a guy who heard about Zomato being one of the coolest companies in town, with an office situated in a farmhouse – that had a pool and a big garden! In August 2013, he showed up for an interview. First of all, the place did not look like an office. His interview went well and he joined Zomato’s Marketing Team.

Huddle Diaries – DevOps and Data Platform

Our Huddle on DevOps and Data Platform was one of the events we have been thinking of hosting for a while now. Organisations in this day and age are scaling at an unprecedented pace, and the need of the hour is to develop processes and infrastructure that can effectively cater to quick and quality development.

Helping Odisha: An Update #techforgood

Last week, we decided to step in and do our bit for those affected by Cyclone Fani in Odisha. The idea was to help in whatever ways we can. It has been an uplifting experience on all fronts for us. From the kind of support we’ve received from our users to the diligence shown by our Hunger Heroes of Feeding India, the past week has been a memorable one. It reminded us once again that we can achieve a lot of good by putting technology to better use.

A story of hustle, respect and determination

Last week, a tweet was being praised by a lot of people – everybody, from a popular Bollywood actress to ex-CM of Rajasthan, shared it on social media. It featured a Zomato delivery partner going about his day. The only difference being he was on a manual wheelchair cycle on his way to make his next food delivery. Whoever saw it was touched by his adherence to the dignity of work. And it immediately came to our notice that the person in question is Ramu Sahu – a resident of Beawar in Rajasthan and a proud Zomato delivery partner.

And the Food vote is in…

While the Tier 1 cities are polling heavily for the prime minister, the smaller cities are throwing up a few surprises. More than 20 small cities across the south and a few surprises in the North are polling alternatives.

Better food for more people. Unconditionally.

People visit restaurants to have a good time, in a welcoming ambience with great food. And most restaurants go out of their way to please their customers because they know word-of-mouth and repeat visits make all the difference.

Two years and a lifetime

It was probably sometime in 2013-2014, that I started using Zomato, a lot more than people around me would have liked. The criteria to go to a restaurant was now driven by a single data point: the rating of the given restaurant on Zomato.

How we improved our iOS app compile time by 99%

At Zomato, we tend to iterate incredibly fast in an ecosystem composed of different teams, all working together to build great products.

How you can help Odisha

Cyclone Fani wreaked havoc across the coast of Odisha, resulting in days filled with one terrible news after another. The scale of destruction has been heartbreaking – to say the least. But then, there are things that aren’t within our control and there are things that are. We can’t avert a furious cyclone but we must help others pick themselves up with whatever little we can.

Huddle Diaries – Android

We hope that you got a chance to attend our Android Huddle we hosted recently. Huddle by Zomato is an event that is focused on building a stronger tech community in the Delhi region.

Real-time gratitude (tip) views for our delivery partners

Over the past couple of years, the number of delivery partners who have become a part of the Zomato family has considerably increased. We kickstarted with 1.8k delivery partners in September 2017 and are now at 180k+ partners, who earn their bread and butter by delivering food to our users.

The Multiplier Risk

There are two kinds of risk in business. Multiplier risks and unnecessary risks. Let me explain both these type of risks –

How we cut the build time for our Android app by 95%

How much time do you think the Zomato app used to take to build for our engineering team? Here are some reference points for you to be able to take an intelligent guess –

Every little thing matters

Having had the chance to work with some brilliant teams and mentors during my time here, I couldn’t easily pinpoint the one day that maybe changed my life or my love for Zomato. Zomato is home and has always been.

Annual Report FY19

Food is older than civilisation. Agrarian cultivation dates back 5,000 years. The first hunter-gatherers were foraging for food 2 million years ago. It is now the most important part of the global economy and is estimated to be about 20% of global GDP.

A greater step towards food safety

We take food hygiene very seriously and are keen to leave no stone unturned as far as food delivery is concerned. In fact, we’ve been at it for a while now;  it’s imperative we cover all aspects. After all, consumers deserve to receive food that’s as good as it was when it was prepared in the kitchen. Which is why, going forward, you’ll see the implementation of what we’d like to call Zomato Safely Sealed. In other words, more and more Zomato food deliveries will be completed using 100% safely sealed tamper-proof packages.

Hyperpure v0.2 – now set to supply 2500+ restaurants every day in Bangalore

A single thread unites the entire chain of Zomato lines of businesses — better food for more people. Everything we do to bring together restaurants, consumers, food suppliers and logistics partners, works towards ensuring more people have access to fresh and clean food. As part of our efforts to achieve this end state, we’ve also begun taking steps towards supplying clean and sustainable supplies to restaurants that care about serving their customers with the best food possible.

Project Clampdown

As a core Zomato value, we have worked relentlessly to identify both restaurants and users who engage in unethical means to influence restaurant ratings and reviews. While we have identified more than a few ‘bad actors’ on the platform, the fight is far from over! Over the past two months, our Neutrality team has removed over 300+ high activity users from the Zomato platform on grounds of “solicitation” (where influential foodies are incentivised or offer to join hands —  in some cases for monetary gains — to write about restaurants), as we gathered sufficient evidence to prove their involvement in these unethical, and sometimes even illegal practices.

Table Reservations Update – a million reservations a month!

Since Zomato launched as a restaurant discovery and reviews platform over 10 years ago, we have continued to build depth to solve various problems within the food value chain. Our efforts in the delivery and listings business continue to grow aggressively. Now, with the launch of innovative products like Zomato Gold, Piggybank, Hygiene Ratings, and businesses like Table Reservations, Hyperpure and Food@work, we are able to provide convenient, transparent and loyalty-driven food experiences.

Introducing Powerpacks in Zomato Gold

It’s February and in case you are still sticking to your new year resolution of eating less, then here are some reasons to think again.

Food Hygiene Ratings: More than a Band-Aid

Nobody likes to see unsavoury stuff in the food they’ve ordered. That not only kills appetite but also makes a user lose trust in the food delivery sector as a whole. Our constant endeavour at Zomato is to make the quality of food better, and make it accessible to more people. In line with our mission of “better food for more people”.

A revolution on two wheels

We are in 2019 and there is no way we can ignore the looming presence of climate change and environmental challenges. As mentioned earlier, wastage is an inalienable reality but we need to step up with creative solutions. The same principle applies to the enormous problem of air pollution, given the role our delivery partners play in the ecosystem. Which is the reason why are taking steps to build a future that creates more tangible value and leaves less carbon footprint.  

Zomato and Feeding India join hands to fight hunger

We love food. It’s nothing less than a cardinal truth for us. Almost everything we do circles around our passion for a tasty, affordable plate. However, our love is not blind as we know that with food, comes wastage. And this particular dilemma bothers us immensely. So, we are already up and running on solving it. We’ve posted earlier about taking measures to tackle environmental issues with non-plastic initiatives like biodegradable packaging for food delivery. In 2018, we collaborated with Akshaya Patra Foundation and ended up facilitating 22 lakh meals for underprivileged kids in less than 6 months. Last July, on our 10th birthday, we participated in a social mission to distribute meals to the underprivileged – because widespread hunger and malnourishment is painful for anyone to see.

Zomaland New Delhi: Grand Finale today!

It’s been just two days and the buzz is palpable. On Friday the 18th of January, we opened our doors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to Zomaland. While it’s been barely 48 hours, the response has been unprecedented.Zomato’s first foray into the events space by bringing to the capital the grandest carnival, Zomaland had promised fabulous entertainment, a funfair-like atmosphere, and most importantly, better food for more people. As we look back, we get the feeling we are certainly on the right track of mixing food with fun.

Zomaland, New Delhi… here we go!

First of all, thank you for the phenomenal response to Zomaland’s early bird tickets! We’ve sold out all our pre-registered tickets in less than 24 hours. And to extend the happiness, we have now launched Early Bird tickets for ALL users at a very special price.

Early bird gets Zomaland

First of all, thank you for a phenomenal response to the Zomaland announcements so far. More than 500,000 users pre-registered on the Zomato app and website to follow updates for the event.

The grandest carnival is coming to town

The love of food is what drives Zomato – this is something we’ve been sure of since day one. Every day, we live by our mission to bring better food to more people. It’s been an incredibly tasty journey so far, but the question is – what next? Our decade-long romance with food is now progressing to the next level. We’ve brought you listings, reviews, delivery, Gold and much more but hold onto your seats because the ride is about to get even more exciting!

Tackling bad actors on Zomato – Part 3

Over the last decade, we have relentlessly worked towards ensuring more people have access to better food. Be it through our discovery platform with millions of sumptuous photos, menus and detailed trustworthy reviews of restaurants; or our food delivery services or then subscriptions like Zomato Gold.

Against food tampering

A few hours ago, we came across a video of a delivery executive in a Zomato t-shirt, carrying a Zomato delivery bag, eating food out of boxed orders and replacing each one post resealing them, back into the delivery bag. The video suggests that he consumed some of the food meant for delivery to users, on his way to the drop points.

Introducing our latest iOS App Update

The world around us is changing fast. And we see this pattern up close in our biggest market — India. More than one-third of the country’s population has access to the Internet now. Over 35% of the population have smartphones at their disposal with an average mobile data consumption north of 11GB per month. Our platform is also evolving at a fast pace –  our Search & Discovery (S&D) service is currently available in 1472 cities globally while our food delivery services have reached 60 cities across 4 countries, including smaller cities like Raipur and Guntur in India. Our user base is getting more and more diverse and so are our product offerings: in the recent past we’ve launched several products, including Zomato Gold (currently present in 20 cities in 3 countries); Zomato Pickup has already taken off in 13 cities. Similarly, we made Hygiene Ratings available to merchants in 32 cities across India, UAE, Qatar and Lebanon. Piggybank has amassed over 1.5m members and has become synonymous with food delivery experience on our platform whereas Sneakpeek introduces a new way to know more about the brands you love.

Self Pickup option now available on Zomato

A few days ago, we hit 21 million monthly orders, and our food delivery services are currently present in 41 cities. This past Sunday, we crossed over a million orders — our greatest delivery milestone so far. It’s easy to surmise that the market for food delivery is only bound to increase. We also believe it’s equally important to continue looking for ways to innovate, which would ultimately help us not only enhance the user experience but also nourish the industry in the long run. With that in mind, we are excited to introduce you to our latest product feature: Zomato Pickup.

Milestone alert: 21 Million orders in India and still “sprinting”

If I were to say that we are running a marathon that has “serving better food to more people” as the end objective, then it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the last nine months have been nothing short of a “super sprint” in this marathon.

The coining of a unique loyalty program

Two months ago we launched Zomato Piggybank, a reward points program for loyal users of our food delivery service. The idea behind this membership is to reward regular users, whilst also doing our bit in helping others give back to the society.

Welcoming TongueStun to Zomato

We’ve also realized that we ought to expand our horizons when it comes to what we are trying to achieve. Our ultimate purpose is to ensure better food for more people, and it is equally important to ensure we don’t miss out on ‘non-conventional’ avenues. For years, restaurants have been the primal focus of our attention and rightly so. But from our recent learnings, we know we must go beyond the obvious. Food also encompasses what we eat in our offices.

De-listing non-compliant restaurants from our food delivery marketplace

At Zomato, we care about our users as much as we care about our restaurant partners. Without a balance between these two elements, we wouldn’t be able to adhere to our long-held mission – better food for more people. However, it hurts us when regulations and hygiene standards are not followed by restaurants.

This is an appeal to the food delivery industry…

Food delivery aggregators and platforms are changing the way consumers dine. Across the world, we offer our users great convenience and greater choice in what they eat — wherever and whenever. We help them save time, effort, and money. And this all while serving our restaurant partners, providing them greater reach to more consumers, and helping thousands of small businesses scale up faster.

Introducing Zomato Sneakpeek

“What’s the Zomato rating?” has become the default answer to “Shall we go to this restaurant?”. When was the last time you visited a restaurant without looking it up on Zomato? Chances are you can’t remember. This change didn’t occur overnight; we’ve been at it for 10 years now.

10 years.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. – Lao Tzu

Introducing Zomato Piggybank

What if I told you, you could have your cake and eat it too? What if I said, that every time you spent a dime on a meal, you could save some too? What if every meal you had led to a hefty deposit in your savings account for a future meal?

63 cities in India and counting…

At the start of 2018, Zomato had a footprint in 38 Indian cities. It’s been barely six months since and the number has gone reasonably up. We’re delighted to announce our presence in 25 new cities in India today. Our restaurant listings and reviews platform is now present across 63 cities in the country; while our food ordering business is currently live in 17 of them.

Zomato Gold set to become invitation only; 27th April is the last day for public purchase.

Zomato Gold was launched in India in November last year and over the past 6 months, we’ve seen the product adoption surprise us as well. We designed the product from first principles, making sure that it benefits our restaurant partners as well as customers – and we are happy to see the love for Zomato Gold from everyone involved.

Zomato – “Short Form” Annual Report FY18

All the numbers in this “short form” annual report are unaudited. Exact numbers might change in small deltas while we go through the audit.

Zomato Gold in UAE – relaunching limitless indulgences

We launched Zomato Gold in UAE to much fanfare in March 2017. Back then, the idea behind this premium subscription program was to offer members limitless benefits on beverages at top restaurants across Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Zomato Gold members in the UAE could buy any drink from the menu and get one free – on up to 2 drinks.

The making of Zomato Gold

It’s been around 3 months since we launched Zomato Gold in India. And needless to say, the journey has been phenomenal so far. During this time period, 150,000+ users have subscribed to Gold and 2000+ restaurant partners have joined the bandwagon. The numbers, to put it succinctly, paint a happy story – one which we are incredibly proud of. This couldn’t have been possible without the unbridled trust of our partners and users.

A fond farewell to Pankaj.

A little more than 10 years ago, on the 26th of January 2008 (also my birthday), I thought it was a perfect day to turn live a website that I was working on for about 2 months. Back then, it was called foodlet.in; in a few days that website got renamed to foodiebay.com (domain names should always be .com – just because). (and for everyone who doesn’t know this – foodiebay.com eventually became zomato.com)

Responsibility

We belong to, and are very passionate about the restaurant industry; and firmly believe that restaurants should be safe social places where people go to enjoy each other’s company, eat great food and build communities. All adding to a happy and fulfilling life. People should not be worried about their safety (existential or otherwise) while visiting restaurants. Restaurants should be everybody’s happy places.

Tackling bad actors on Zomato – Part 2

At Zomato, our motto is to ensure our users never have a bad meal. It’s been more than 10 years of improving upon what we do every day and making sure that our users are able to make informed choices about eating great food. Yet, at the heart of it, we still see ourselves as the place where our users go to share their dining stories (reviews!). That’s why we love to hear from our foodies – be it the good, the bad or the ugly – and all this feedback is also very essential for our restaurant partners to improve upon what they do on a daily basis.