Food discovery and delivery platform Zomato has introduced ‘Zomato Safely Sealed’, which it claims are 100% tamper-proof packaging to add an extra layer of safety to food deliveries. Once the food is sealed by the restaurant, the packet can only be opened by cutting off the top-end strip, Zomato said in a statement.
Zomato Safely Sealed comes in two variations to fit different sized boxes. The safety seals are made from a single material polymer with 50 microns thickness, and are completely reusable/recyclable. Zomato said that it will soon launch the biodegradable versions of the packaging as well.
During the first phase, this tamper-proof packaging will be implemented across 10 cities (Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nagpur and Vadodara) in India and will be steadily introduced across all the 180+ cities where Zomato’s online ordering and food delivery services are present.
Zomato has advised users to not only not accept the delivery if the safety seal is open, but also highlight it to them through their multiple communication channels.
“Our commitment to ensuring safe and hygienic food reaching our users involves our contribution at every possible step — from supplying ingredients through Hyperpure, to safety audits through Food Hygiene Ratings. Zomato Safely Sealed is our latest attempt at adding an extra layer of safety, ensuring our users receive food as good as it was when it was prepared in the kitchen. We ran a pilot for this initiative among 40 restaurants in Gurugram and received an overwhelming response from both participating restaurants and users,” Mohit Gupta, CEO, Food Delivery, Zomato, said.
Currently, over 5,000 restaurant partners are sealing their food using the packaging, which is about 25% of Zomato’s order volume in the 10 cities. It has already deployed over 3 million packets so far and aims to boost its supply to 3X by April, as it introduces this packaging across 25 more cities in India.
Zomato will also feature a ‘100% SAFELY SEALED’ badge on the app for all restaurants who sign-up to use the packaging, further educating users in the decision-making process when ordering food online.
Zomato says that tamper-proof packaging also witnessed tremendous participation from the restaurant community who welcomed this move, helping them provide better services to their customers.
This comes after Zomato as recently criticised after a video of its delivery executive eating out of a user’s video went viral.
Apart from that, the food-tech giant has been delisting thousands of restaurants who don’t meet the required hygiene standards. They are also actively working towards improving hygiene selection and today, provide hygiene ratings for over 10,000 restaurants.