SUMMARY
All existing Zomato Gold users have been upgraded to a Pro-membership
Zomato Pro will drive growth for struggling restaurant industry, says cofounder Gaurav Gupta
Last year, Zomato Gold registered a 180% increase with 1.4 Mn users in India
Online food delivery platform Zomato has revamped its controversial premium services Zomato Gold to incorporate 50% more dine out and delivery restaurants. The new platform has been named Zomato Pro and will incorporate all existing Zomato Gold users.
The foodtech unicorn has announced the customers will be offered extra perks under the Pro subscription. This will include faster deliveries, exclusive delivery offers and money back guarantee. Zomato also claims that if any user is not able to save 2x the cost of Pro subscription then it will refund the subscription fee at the end of the year. The money back guarantee is applicable for all Zomato Pro/Gold memberships bought or renewed today (June 30).
Besides this, the orders placed by Zomato Pro members will jump to the front of the real-time queue while the Zomato is looking for a valet to deliver the order. This will lead to the order getting delivered 15-20% faster than before.
While commenting on the priority delivery, Zomato’s cofounder Gaurav Gupta, said, “Pro members in India get a massive upgrade to their food delivery experience. They will get access to exclusive delivery offers, which will now be over and above any deals available to other Zomato users.”
The company also believes that Zomato Pro will pull the levers to drive growth in the struggling restaurant industry and help them cover up the losses they incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown.
Ironically, last year, several restaurant partners had started a #Logout movement to protest against the predatory pricing and business model of premium services offered by food delivery companies. This also included Zomato Gold. The restaurant partners had alleged that it was difficult to fulfill the operational cost of an order with 1+1 on food or 2+2 on drinks offered by Zomato Gold.
However, the company had later changed certain policies and limited Zomato Gold’s offerings to accommodate restaurant partners’ demand. After which, cofounder and CEO Deepinder Goyal wrote a blog highlighting the happiness of restaurant partners with Zomato.
“The changes were intended to create a more balanced program by addressing the concerns of the community that is the foundation of every business that Zomato is in – our restaurant partners,” he added.
According to Zomato’s biannual report published in October, Zomato Gold registered a 180% increase with 1.4 Mn users in India. The Zomato Gold services, across 10 countries, have been upgraded to Pro-memberships.
