Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato, shared a photo of the food delivery giant’s “war room” on New Year’s Eve as it prepared to accept to huge surge in food delivery orders, thanks to restrictions due to COVID-19. A cake is being ordered every second on Zomato, he said.
“War room ready for tonight. I hope AWS doesn't run out of servers,” Deepinder Goyal tweeted on the evening of December 31.
“App opens are up 91 per cent w-o-w (compared to 24 Dec, which was unusually high anyway),” the Zomato chief said in another tweet, adding that he opened the app usage will go up by 7 pm.
Earlier in the day, Goyal had urged urged people to encourage the restaurant industry by ordering in on New Year’s Eve.
"Big day today for the restaurant industry. Stay home, stay safe, and order away. We are ready to serve you," he tweeted.
With states imposing curbs such as night curfews to control the fast-spreading Omicron variant of coronavirus, it’s likely to be a quiet New Year’s Eve for most people who are likely to usher in 2022 in the comfort of their homes.
With the restrictions, restaurants are back to drawing boards as they expect a hit on business once again, and are fearing muted business this weekend.
Delhi has imposed a night curfew - from 11 pm to 5 am - from December 27 onwards amid the rising number of Omicron cases. Maharashtra too has imposed the curfew from 9 pm to 6 am from December 24.
Restaurants, one of the worst-hit by the pandemic, were hoping for bumper business this December as the second wave of COVID-19 waned and governments lifted restrictions on movement.
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