How Zomato’s ‘Food Rescue’ will work, what’s in it for delivery workers, restaurants

While the company said it will not keep any proceeds from the sale except the required government taxes, the feature could boost the app’s usage and user retention, as people are likely to be scouring through the app, waiting for a cancelled order to pop up.

The company said its delivery workers will be compensated fully for the entire trip, from the initial pickup to the final drop-off at the new customer’s location.

How does the ‘Food Rescue’ feature work on Zomato?

Once the initial purchaser of a particular food item cancels the order, it will show up on the app of users within a three kilometre radius of the delivery worker carrying the order. The option to claim the order will only be available for a few minutes, which Zomato says is essential to ensure the freshness of the food.

To prevent any abuse of the system, the original customer and those in their immediate vicinity will not receive the option to claim the order. Customers who prefer vegetarian food will not see non-veg orders.

“Zomato will not keep any proceeds (except the required government taxes). The amount paid by the new customer will be shared with the original customer (if they made payment online), and with the restaurant partner,” Goyal said.

Orders containing items sensitive to distances or temperature such as ice creams, shakes, smoothies, and certain perishable items, will not be eligible for the new feature.

Currently it is unclear whether there would be a minimum or maximum money limit to a food order which would be available under the feature. It is also unclear whether Zomato will issue a flat discount on the cancelled order, or if it will be a percentage based discount, depending on the value of the order. In a screenshot shared by Goyal, the cancelled order’s value was shown as Rs 322 and the discounted rate was Rs 161, which is half of the original value.

How does it work for restaurants, delivery workers?

In a blog post, Zomato said that 99.9 per cent of its restaurant partners “want to be a part of this initiative”.

As per the company, restaurant partners will continue to receive compensation for the original cancelled order, plus a portion of the amount paid by the new customer if the order is claimed.

They can see ‘Food Rescue’ orders in the order history section on the restaurant partner app and in their weekly payout statement, in the ‘Order Level’ tab.

“If, for any reason, restaurant partners don’t wish to participate, they can instantly opt out via their Restaurant partner app and dashboard,” Zomato said.

“Delivery partners will be compensated fully for the entire trip, from the initial pickup to the final drop-off at the new customer’s location,” Zomato added.