The pilot, called Zomato Now, places fresh food pods at corporate workplaces, offering employees quick access to meals and products from restaurants and food brands.
Zomato is testing a new food-delivery model by installing food vending machines at corporate offices in Gurugram, as the foodtech company explores new ways to make meals available to consumers with minimal delivery time.
The pilot, known as Zomato Now, involves setting up fresh-food pods at select workplaces in partnership with food and restaurant brands. The machines are designed to give employees direct access to food from participating brands, people familiar with the initiative told ET.
The pilot represents Zomato’s latest move into rapid food delivery as competition intensifies in India’s quick-commerce and food-delivery markets.
Zomato Now comes alongside Blinkit’s 10-minute food delivery service Bistro, which operates through dedicated cloud kitchens. Eternal, Zomato’s parent company, has increasingly focused on rapid delivery as it looks to build a stronger presence in the convenience-led food segment.
Eternal had earlier consolidated its rapid-food delivery efforts under Blinkit’s Bistro vertical. Meanwhile, competitors are also experimenting with similar formats, with Swiggy having previously operated Snacc and later shutting down the service.
The competitive landscape is continuing to evolve, with Swiggy launching its standalone Toing app for the segment, while mobility platform Rapido has entered food delivery with Ownly.
The Zomato Now vending machines are currently being tested at a limited number of corporate offices in Gurugram. The initiative is primarily aimed at employees working at those locations, giving them access to food from selected restaurants and brands without relying on conventional delivery.
A photograph of one such food pod was also shared on LinkedIn, according to the report. Zomato did not respond to ET’s queries about the pilot.
The experiment comes as Zomato and its competitors continue to search for commercially viable models for faster food delivery. Eternal CFO Akshant Goyal said in July that Bistro was adding around 10 kitchens a quarter, while older kitchens were showing improvements in throughput, menu assortment, pricing and operational efficiency.
For Zomato, the vending-machine experiment could offer another route to reduce delivery friction by bringing food closer to consumers before an order is even placed. If the pilot proves successful, the model could potentially provide the company with another format for serving high-density workplaces and other locations where demand is concentrated.