What Is Zomato Quick? Why Is Deepinder Goyal Shutting It Down?

Zomato has officially closed down its quick food delivery service, 'Zomato Quick' and 'everyday', which offered deliveries within 10 to 15 minutes. The service, launched earlier this year, was intended to address the increasing demand for quick commerce in India.

“We are actually shutting down both these initiatives as we are not seeing the path to profitability in these without compromising on customer experience”, as per the exchange filing shared for shareholders on BSE. 

Why Was 'Zomato Quick' Discontinued?

CEO Deepinder Goyal pointed to operational difficulties and a strategic pivot as major reasons for abandoning the service. He highlighted prioritising safety and quality over speed, saying the 10-minute delivery model could not be maintained in the long term. 

Goyal further said that the company's resources could be better allocated towards consolidating its core food delivery business and other businesses.

“The current restaurant density & kitchen infrastructure is not set up for delivering orders in 10 minutes, which leads to inconsistent customer experience. As a result, we did not see any incrementality in demand while we ran Quick as an experiment for a few months", the filing noted.

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Safety Concerns and Public Backlash

The 10-minute delivery guarantee raised issues regarding the safety of delivery partners. Critics believed that this model would force riders to compromise on safety in favour of speed, resulting in accidents. 

Goyal responded by assuring that delivery partners were not penalised for delayed deliveries and were not notified of the guaranteed delivery times to prevent excessive pressure. The public outcry, however, still led to the discontinuation of the service.

Strategic Shift Towards Sustainable Growth

Zomato's takeover of Blinkit, a quick commerce platform, has been a major step in its efforts to diversify and consolidate its market position. Goyal admitted that even though quick commerce is a new trend, it's necessary to balance innovation with sustainability. 

“Non-restaurant business currently comprises B2B sales of mainly fresh food and staples to the sellers on the Blinkit marketplace. We got into this business opportunistically post the acquisition of Blinkit, and have seen it scale rapidly on the back of the growth in the quick commerce business” Goyal responded in the filing.