Zomato India’s response to a man who announced that he had cancelled an order after a “non-Hindu” delivery executive was assigned, is winning the internet.
On Tuesday, a Twitter user named Amit Shukl tagged Zomato in a tweet and said he cancelled an order after Zomato "allocated a non hindu rider for my food.” He went on to claim, “they said they can't change rider and can't refund on cancellation I said you can't force me to take a delivery I don't want don't refund just cancel (sic).” He also added in another tweet: “Zomato is forcing us to take deliveries from people we don't want else they won't refund and won't cooperate I am removing this app and will discuss the issue with my lawyers (sic).”
In response, Zomato tweeted: “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion.” Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal too responded to the user’s tweet with a firm message: “We are proud of the idea of India – and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values.”
Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion. https://t.co/H8P5FlAw6y
— Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) July 31, 2019
We are proud of the idea of India - and the diversity of our esteemed customers and partners. We aren’t sorry to lose any business that comes in the way of our values. https://t.co/cgSIW2ow9B
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) July 31, 2019
Many on Twitter lashed out at the user over his bigotry and hailed Zomato for its measured response. At the time of writing, Zomato’s tweet had over 11,000 retweets and 29,000 likes.
Kudos! Well done Zomato!
— karanbir singh (@karanbirtinna) July 31, 2019
My next 5 orders will be from you
— Khan Saab (@CanadianSaab) July 31, 2019
Well said. Food IS a religion. Ordering Zomato tonight!! https://t.co/5TuFXNAKK2
— Harinder Baweja (@shammybaweja) July 31, 2019
well done Deepinder. Thank you
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 31, 2019
This whole interaction has filled me with hope! Courage & decency are alive in #India #corporateIndia Kudos to @ZomatoIN @deepigoyal pic.twitter.com/2SFuJAwmQA
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) July 31, 2019
Last year, Airtel India had faced flak after the company was seen agreeing to a similar demand made then by a user. At the time, a customer had written to Airtel to lodge a complaint about the company’s DTH service and when a customer care executive named Shoaib responded, she stated that she ‘did not want to speak to Muslims’ and sought a Hindu executive. The next response to the customer was by Gaganjot and the company was criticised for not taking a stand against bigotry.