Zomato supports restaurant workers through its Gold fund

Intending to support the restaurant industry and its workers overcome the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, food delivery major Zomato had launched a fund named ‘Zomato Gold Support Fund’ in April. 

Today, the company has announced that under the fund it has collected Rs 2.64 crore in a month through the contribution of over 26,000 individuals.

All the funds collected as a part of the initiative have already been disbursed to over 3100 restaurant workers and 378 restaurants, helping them to meet their daily livelihoods, said the company in a statement.

In addition, Zomato would also contribute 10% of the total collection amounting to Rs 26.5 lakh towards the program launched by NRAI to support restaurant workers and their families under the name ‘ NRAI COVID-19 Relief Fund.’

“I want to thank everyone who contributed to the Zomato Gold Support Fund, be it purchasing Zomato Gold or spreading the word,” said Zomato’s CEO and founder Deepinder Goyal in a tweet. 

Till mid-April, the Gurugram-based company had raised about Rs 2 crore from 18,500+ individuals.

Recently, Zomato has also extended its gold membership by four more months across India and 8 other countries. Initially, the company extended the membership for 2 months in March at zero additional cost. According to the Alipay-backed company, around 26,300 gold users renewed their membership in April.

The company is also providing working capital loans for its partner restaurants to help them during this slowdown.

While Zomato has been trying to maintain some buzz with its reward and loyalty program and helping the restaurant body even in the ongoing lockdown, its arch-rival Swiggy suspended its only loyalty product ‘Swiggy Super’ two days ago for an indefinite period of time.