Zomato - the future of food on the go

The application provides an option to order food from all listed restaurants for delivery to the customers door. However, Zomato acts only as a platform through which users place orders to the merchant. All materials, logistics, delivery cost or any other cost associated with order preparation and delivery are the responsibility of the merchant.

The online ordering service will launch in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban initially, but will soon go national.

Payment settlement

Currently customers have two options, "Cash on delivery" or "online payments" to pay for their food. However, in future Zomato Cashless will be launched and this will be the primary payment option available to Zomato users.

Other new services

Over the past few months, Zomato has added a number of services to its platform, extending its services beyond just restaurant search and discovery. Just last month, the company acquired restaurant reservation platform NexTable, and will soon launch its table reservations app Zomato Book. In February this year, Zomato Cashless was introduced in Dubai, to allow customers to make cashless payments at restaurants via the Zomato app.

Zomato Founder and CEO Deepener Goyal reveals that online ordering is a key vertical for the company: "In the long term, we want to be the singular communication platform for restaurants and customers. We want people everywhere to have easy access to all kinds of restaurant information at their fingertips, so they can make informed dining decisions."

"There is a lot of ground to cover in bridging the communication gap between consumers and restaurants. I think with the introduction of Zomato Order, and in the future, Table Reservations, Cashless payment, and our built-for-business POS product, we will be able to bridge that gap to a large extent."

"As a product company, we want to be that go-to app for anyone looking to discover a place to eat at, book a table, or order food online. We have been consistently working on creating a seamless in-app dining experience for our users, and have a long-term vision of making dining experiences more convenient and enjoyable. We are certain that with the newly introduced features such as online ordering, cashless payment, and other transaction-based services that we are introducing, we're going to change the way people dine."

Country Manager for Zomato SA, Heino Gehle said that based on a lot of user and merchant feedback, Zomato realised there was a need for a seamless product experience in the online ordering segment.

"Our focus has always been on making dining experiences more convenient for users and we are certain this is going to change the way people order in. Over the next 2 months, we are looking to hire over 46 people as a part of the Zomato Order team, and 20 on the Zomato Media side, adding to the existing team of 75," he says.

Zomato provides in-depth information for over 1.4 million restaurants globally, helping people to discover great places to eat at or order in from, while also giving users all the information they need to make informed decisions, while also allowing them to share their experiences through reviews, pictures, and check-ins.