Zomato says it will launch its 10-minute ‘Instant’ food delivery service in Gurugram from April 2022

Zomato, through a LinkedIn post, says it intends to launch its 10-minute food delivery service, dubbed ‘Instant’, in Gurugram in the next few days.

The online food ordering and delivery app had come under intense scrutiny and suffered social media trolling once the news of its 10-minute food delivery service broke in March 2022.

People questioned the need for such a service in the first place and worried about the pressure it will put on the delivery personnel because they’d resort to rash driving just to deliver the order on or before time putting their lives at risk.

Zomato, on its blog, clarified that “to fulfil our quick delivery promise, we do not put any pressure on delivery partners to deliver food faster. Nor do we penalise delivery partners for late deliveries.”

Speaking about the need for such a service, Deepinder Goyal, CEO and co-founder of Zomato, who wrote the blog said, “Customers are increasingly demanding quicker answers to their needs. They don’t want to plan, and they don’t want to wait… Innovating and leading from the front is the only way to survive (and therefore thrive) in the tech industry. And here we are… with our 10-minute food delivery offering – Zomato Instant.”

“Each of our finishing stations will house bestseller items (~20-30 dishes) from various restaurants based on demand predictability and hyperlocal preferences,” he adds.

This intense pressure of near-instant delivery first surfaced during the two years of the pandemic induced lockdown(s). Grocery delivery firms decided to dangle the carrot of delivery speed in front of consumers who seem to have bitten a large chunk.

Brands like Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, Bigbaskt all promise delivery in minutes with the speediest time being just 10 minutes.