Zomato customer in Gurgaon gets kebab delivered from Lucknow in 30 minutes, takes legal action

Sourav Mall urged the court to stop Zomato from continuing the "Legends" services under the promise of offering hot and fresh food from leading restaurants. (Representational Image).

A Zomato customer in Gurgaon decided to move court after he was shocked that the kebab ordered by him from a Lucknow restaurant was delivered to him in 30 minutes, an Indian Express report said.

Sourav Mall, 24, raised questions about the validation of Zomato's rapid service that was categorised under "Legends" after he was delivered the food item in half-an-hour, when the kebab was made at an outlet 500 km away from his location.

Mall had ordered four dishes-three from restaurants in Delhi and one from a restaurant in Lucknow-which included "Chicken Kabab Roll" from Jama Masjid, "Triple Chocolate Cheesecake" from Kailash Colony, "Veg Sandwich" from Jangpura and "Galouti Kebab" from Lucknow.

The Delhi restaurants, where the orders were placed, were approximately 30 km from his residence and Mall argued that the food delivered to him were not transported from the particular location, but were stored in Zomato warehouses and later sent to the customer.

A blog post on Zomato's website, in 2022, said that when food was ordered under the "Legends" category, it would reach the customer only the following day.

"By leveraging Zomato’s vast network of restaurant partners and delivery partners, deep understanding of food technology, and insights into what our customers love, legendary dishes will be delivered from across India to you, the very next day," the post read.

The customer filed a suit against the delivery platform's "Legends" policy of delivering food from various cities such as Lucknow, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad, among others, in a short time, regardless of the distance.

Mall, who was represented by advocates Anurag Anand, Biyanka Bhatia and Tishampati Sen, urged the court to stop Zomato from continuing the "Legends" services under the promise of offering hot and fresh food from leading restaurants.

Additionally, he also alleged that the food delivered to him was in a Zomato packaging and not of that of the restaurant partner. Also, the bag displaying "Zomato Legends" had promises such as "not frozen", "freshly prepared", "no preservatives added" and "travels using mobile refrigeration technology".