Zomato has been trying out all manner of new products and innovations, but not all of them have worked out.
Zomato has shut down intercity delivery service Zomato Legends. “After two years of trying, not finding product market fit, we have decided to shut down the service with immediate effect,” Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal announced on X.
Zomato had launched Intercity Legends in August 2022, and had sought to deliver food from different cities in a day. “With our new launch ‘Intercity Legends’, no matter where you are, you can order and relish legendary dishes like baked rosogollas from Kolkata, biryani from Hyderabad, mysore pak from Bengaluru, kebabs from Lucknow, butter chicken from Old Delhi, or pyaaz kachori from Jaipur,” Zomato had then said.
Zomato had said that the orders would arrive in one day, and once customers received their orders, they could microwave, air-fry, or pan-fry the food just like any dish out of the refrigerator. “All types of dishes have undergone lab testing to ensure that the aroma, texture, and taste remain of high quality. Food is freshly prepared by the restaurant and packed in reusable and tamper-proof containers to keep it safe during air transit. State-of-the-art mobile refrigeration technology preserves the food without the need to freeze it or add any kind of preservatives,” Zomato had said.
But even though the announcement had generated quite a bit of buzz — and debate — Zomato has now decided to shut the service down. It appears that the market to receive food from a different city might not have been as big as Zomato had initially hoped, or it was hard for the company to maintain quality and ensure that the food didn’t spoil along the way. Also, Zomato is now focused on much bigger businesses, like hyperlocal deliveries through Blinkit and going-out business through District, so Legends cannot likely make a material dent in its business any more.
But Zomato should be proud of itself for having tried out an idea that many people had declared as bizarre when it was first announced. Zomato has looked to constantly innovate in the food delivery space, whether it’s installing rain detectors in cities to determine surge pricing, or starting a veg-only fleet to cater to vegetarian customers. Not all these initiatives will work out, but even at the ripe old age of 16, Zomato continues to come up and ship products like a startup, and this could hold the company in good stead as it looks to enter even more verticals targeted at the urban Indian consumer.