Zomato About To Crack Profit Despite A Year Marred By Controversies

After stirring up a hornet’s nest for the past few months, foodtech unicorn Zomato decided not to get bogged down by the protests and controversies and be back with a bang. CEO and cofounder Deepinder Goyal, on Monday,  claimed that the company is on the verge of cracking its maiden profit. 

The company, which was launched in 2008 by Goyal along with Pankaj Chaddah, serves over 55 Mn users and restaurants across 24 countries and has managed to raise $600 Mn funding till date. The food aggregator has also acquired at least 14 companies till date, including food startup TongueStun, hyperlocal logistics service Runnr and drone delivery startup TechEagle.

The company became a unicorn in 2015 and claimed profit in all 24 countries in 2017.  Zomato lists 1.4 Mn restaurants and directs 28 Mn food orders in a month, according to their LinkedIn profile.

It started off as a food aggregator but has now ventured into other services like food delivery and food inventory. The company, in 2017, launched its own premium service Zomato Gold —a subscription-based model that provides 1+1 free on food and 2+2 on drinks in enlisted restaurants. The premium services, which aimed at creating loyal customers was successful as Zomato managed to register more than 2K restaurants and 150+ users, as of March 10, 2018. 

Goyal also claimed to have created 2.3 Lakh jobs through its food delivery partners. This month, the company had added 10 K new jobs as direct employment and through contracts. 

However, the company laid off 600 employees within August-September, claiming redundancies in position because of a developed user interface. Post layoffs the company’s strength was reduced to 5K globally, and 2K in India.

These layoffs were seen as a step to ensure profit, especially after its plans to launch the infinity dining plan. The new venture would allow users to avail unlimited servings of the whole menu in listed restaurants for a fixed price.

According to the company’s annual report, it had managed to raise a profit of $206 Mn in FY2019, despite losing $294 Mn on delivery operations in India. The report also maintained that it lost INR 25 per delivery. The amount was 43% less than the INR 44, it claimed to lose in March 2018.

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