Amid reports of Zomato shutting down its 10-minute food delivery service 'Zomato Instant', the company told CNBC-TV18 that it is not shutting down the service. It also clarified that no employee has been laid off due to the development.
"Instant is not shutting down. We are working on a new menu with our partners and rebranding the business. All finishing stations remain intact, and no people are impacted by this decision," Zomato told the publication.
The announcement comes amid fears of a layoff in the food delivery service company as its rival Swiggy fired 380 employees.
Launched in March 2022, Zomato Instant was targeted at customers for whom the 30-minute average delivery time by Zomato was too slow.
In a blog post dated March 21, 2022, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had written, "Customers are increasingly demanding quicker answers to their needs. They don’t want to plan, and they don’t want to wait.... I started feeling that the 30-minute average delivery time by Zomato is too slow, and will soon have to become obsolete. If we don’t make it obsolete, someone else will."
"Innovating and leading from the front is the only way to survive (and therefore thrive) in the tech industry. And here we are… with our 10-minute food delivery offering – Zomato Instant," Goyal wrote.
When the pilot started last year, the company’s idea was to predict 20-30 most frequently ordered food items for an area, get specific restaurants to share pre-mixed versions of those orders to Zomato finishing stations, where the food can be quickly heated or cooked to be delivered within 10 minutes.
Read more: Zomato disables its 10-minute delivery service after it struggles to grow
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