Zomato rolls out Covid-19 priority feature for food delivery on its app

Food delivery app service Zomato on Wednesday rolled out a feature to prioritise deliveries related to Covid-19 emergency on its app, co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said. "Today, along with thousands of our restaurant partners, we just rolled out a “priority delivery for covid emergencies'' feature on the Zomato app. This feature will allow our customers to mark *This order is related to a Covid-19 emergency* option during checkout," Goyal said in a tweet.
 
A screenshot of the feature shared by Goyal showed that a banner would appear on the checkout page if a user chose the feature. "We will prepare and deliver this order on priority. Treat this as an ambulance and please do not misuse it. #RestaurantsAgainstCovid".

 
As the country grapples with the second wave of Covid-19, food availability has emerged as a serious area of concern, especially for the elderly and people who do not have help at home or cannot cook while they care for affected family members.
 

Several home cooks and community-led initiatives have pitched in to provide food for those who need it.
 
Goyal further said that Zomato would prioritise these orders by assigning the fastest rider and dedicated customer support in case of queries. "Thousands of restaurants have pledged to prioritise these orders in their kitchens above all others," he said.

 
Deliveries to such customers would be contactless by default to ensure the safety of the riders, and subsequent customers.
 
In response to a tweet where a user asked the Zomato co-funder to help pick up home-made food from one place to a Covid-19 affected customer, Goyal said "we are trying to set something up."