‘Working on a new menu’: Zomato says 10-minute food delivery service not shutting down

Food delivery service Zomato on Monday refuted news reports of shutting down Instant, its 10-minute food delivery service.

Less than a year after its debut, Zomato is closing its 10-minute food delivery service ‘Zomato Instant’ as it strives for profitability in the face of challenging market conditions, reported The Economic Times on Monday.

"Instant is not shutting down. We are working on a new menu with our partners and rebranding the business. All finishing stations remain intact, and no people are impacted by this decision," the company told Business Today in a statement.

“It didn’t look like it would turn profitable. The company was not getting the daily volume required to even pay the fixed costs. It wasn't scaling up to that level,” a person aware of the development told ET.

“The plan is to now pivot to a new product,” he said. Zomato is experimenting with combo meals or thalis, which are low-value packed meals. If Zomato keeps the 10-minutes preposition for this, that hasn't been decided. However, one of the sources told ET that the new offering would go on sale in 7–10 days.

Zomato clarified that it was only rebranding Instant and not shutting down the service.

In March 2022, Zomato had announced that it would offer 10-minute food delivery. "Nobody in the world has so far delivered hot and fresh food in under 10 minutes at scale, and we were eager to be the first to create this category, globally!" CEO Deepinder Goyal had earlier written in a blog post.

Zomato's 'finishing stations' provided the service, which stocked 20-30 best-selling dishes from various restaurants based on demand predictability and hyperlocal preferences. The company opened five such stations, mostly in the National Capital Region, and has recently expanded the service to Bengaluru.

Zomato recently saw the exit of chief executive Mohit Gupta and new initiatives head Rahul Ganjoo. Apart from Gupta and Ganjoo, Siddharth Jhawar, who was serving as vice-president and head of Zomato’s Intercity Legends service, had also quit the firm.

Also Read: Zomato customer flags scary Cash-on-Delivery scam, CEO says he is aware and working to fix

Also Read: Zomato shares down 10% in six days; tech charts hint weakness isn't over yet, analysts say