Why Zomato’s stand against bigotry matters | HT Editorial

By standing up for its delivery person, the firm has upheld core human values

On Tuesday, Amit Shukla, a resident of Jabalpur, cancelled a food delivery order made through the Zomato app. However, this was not a routine cancellation. “Just cancelled an order on @ZomatoIN they allocated a non hindu rider for my food 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,” Mr Shukla tweeted, tagging the food delivery company.

By standing behind the delivery person, Zomato founder has upheld one of the key principles of good management: building an inclusive company (Indranil Bhoumik/Mint)

The tweet would have probably gone unnoticed, but for the company’s short, but firm response. “Food doesn’t have a religion. It is a religion,” the company tweeted in response to the customer’s request for change of the delivery person. The rejoinder won many hearts on social media, but also, as expected, angry responses. Many threatened to discontinue Zomato’s services.

But the prospect of a dip in business did not deter new-age entrepreneur, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal, to stand up against such bigotry. “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,” he tweeted.

At a time when India’s political discourse is polarised, and anti-minority statements/actions are not uncommon, Mr Goyal’s stand is brave and commendable. At the same time, it is unfortunate that most business houses did not have a word of support for Zomato. Their silence makes Zomato’s stand all the more important.