"Such a service is essential for me," Ricky Kej said.
Zomato recently announced the launch of the "Pure Veg Mode" service for customers who have a 100 per cent vegetarian dietary preference. Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal had said that the fleet would wear a green uniform and delivery box in contrast to Zomato's trademark red t-shirts and bags. However, it faced a backlash online from a section of people, and the company rolled back its decision to change the uniform colour under the new service. Amid this, Grammy award winner Ricky Kej said that people "should not read too much into this" and the introduction of the service "hurts no one".
Mr Kej said that he "wholeheartedly" welcomes the move as he had several incidents where he received non-vegetarian food despite being a vegetarian himself. He said on X (formerly Twitter), "As a vegetarian who orders food from delivery services atleast once a day, I had numerous experiences of being sent chicken rolls instead of veg, meat pieces in my food, wrong orders delivered, etc. I have to be overly cautious each time I receive an order. It would be great to have a service that just deals with veg food since for me being vegetarian is not just a lifestyle choice, I am deeply invested in it with respect to environmenal sustainability and other causes I feel strongly about. So such a service is essential for me."
Mr Kej, reacting to Mr Goyal's statement, said that the company's "intention is only to serve people with dietary preferences. This has nothing to do with caste, or religion."
He argued that anyone's dietary preference should not become an issue. "It's really funny (and disaheartening) that in India, we have to defend ourselves for being vegetarian.. when it should be the opposite!! No one had to die for my meal or my snack!! Hahah. Also, it is proven time and again that a meat-free diet is far more sustainable for the planet. This is a dietary preference and a personal choice. That is all! So when @zomato is catering to our needs, why should this become an issue?" he wrote.
Mr Goyal issued a statement last night saying that Zomato would "stay alert" in cases where societies and RWAs would not let their regular fleet in and work with them to ensure this doesn't happen. Reacting to this, the music composer said that the CEO should not address situations like these. He concluded, "If this is indeed an issue, then people need to take this up with their stupid societies and RWAs.. instead of trying to stop an amazing service that can benefit so many people, like me."
Meanwhile, Zomato said that they decided to launch the service based on feedback from customers. However, the service and separate colour codes sparked a huge outcry on social media. Many accused the food delivery app of modern-day casteism which could cause inconvenience to those ordering non-vegetarian food. Additionally, several users also brought up the possibility that tenants ordering non-vegetarian food may run into issues with their landlords.