Zomato launches dedicated fund to support restaurant workers

To help the restaurant industry and its workers overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, food tech major Zomato has announced that it is launching a fund.

All proceeds from the purchase of its gold annual memberships in April will go to restaurant workers including housekeepers, cooks and servers via its 'Gold Support Fund'. And users who purchase their gold annual subscription during April will get a 2-year membership (instead of a year) at no additional cost, said Zomato in a statement.

“Restaurants workers who function day in and out in order to render a great food experience are one of the most significant factors behind the restaurant industry’s success. It is disheartening to see the industry which has grown to drive tremendous employment opportunities in recent years, struggle to sustain," said Gaurav Gupta, co-founder and COO of Zomato in the statement.

The gold membership will be available at Rs 1,200 and limited to this month. At present, the initiative has been started in India and UAE.

Last week, Zomato also had extended its paid gold membership by two months for no additional cost to its members across India and 10 other countries

Besides this, Zomato’s founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal last week had announced a slew of initiatives including a relief plan to help its users, delivery executives and gold restaurant partners across 10,000 cities.

The Gurugram-based firm also offered to facilitate working capital loans for its partner restaurants to help them during this slowdown. Its employees would be taking voluntary pay cuts to conserve cash and donate for its delivery partner fund as well as the ‘Feed the Daily Wager’ campaign.

In India, the total number of coronavirus cases has climbed to over 1800-mark on Wednesday. The death toll was at 41. India is under a 21-day lockdown to curb the spread of the virus.