Zomato launches food rescue feature, enabling users to claim cancelled orders

Food delivery and quick commerce giant Zomato launched food rescue, a feature that allows nearby customers to claim cancelled orders, Zomato Co-Founder & CEO said in a post on LinkedIn. 

Zomato doesn’t offer refunds on cancelled orders. To combat food wastage, the cancelled orders will pop up for nearby customers on their homepage. The company said users can grab these orders at an "unbeatable price," in their original untampered packaging, and receive them in just minutes. 

“The original customer still pays the cancellation fee–which is 100% of the amount of the cancelled order,” clarified Deepinder Goyal, Zomato Co-Founder & CEO. 

Zomato will not retain any proceeds, except for the necessary government taxes. The payment made by the new customer will be distributed between the original customer (if the payment was made online) and the restaurant partner.

Restaurant partners will receive compensation for the original cancelled order, along with a share of the new customer's payment if the order is claimed. Most restaurants have opted in and can easily opt-out via their control panels.

Delivery partners will be fully compensated for the entire trip, from pickup to drop-off at the new customer's location.

However, to ensure freshness the pop-ups will only be available for a few minutes and the feature will not be applicable for orders containing items sensitive to distances or temperature such as ice creams, shakes, smoothies, and certain perishable items.