Swiggy, Zomato launch initiatives for people, restaurants hit by Covid-19 lockdown

Swiggy has introduced a new initiative to help provide food to underprivileged, daily wagers and stranded migrant labourers during the 21-day lockdown. Zomato has also launched a Gold Support Fund to help support the restaurants hit by the lockdown.

Swiggy's 'Hope, Not Hunger' initiative

The company has partnered with commercial kitchens, NGOs and state governments to feed the needy. Swiggy said it is providing over 75,000 meals daily as its initiative has extended to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Chennai and Kolkata. The company aims to provide 5,00,000 meals daily.

"Swiggy helped organize the preparation and distribution of nutritious meals twice a day across relief camps in Delhi with the support of partners such as Compass Kitchens, Lite Bite Foods and SmartQ. The relief effort was quickly scaled to Mumbai with the help of NGOs Pratham, HelpAge India and Yuva, and Elior India acting as the food supply partner," said the company in a release.

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Zomato Gold Support Fund

Zomato has set up a special fund to provide all proceeds from the purchase of Zomato Gold annual memberships in April to restaurant housekeepers, cooks and servers. Zomato is also is offering 2-year membership (instead of 1 year) at no additional cost who purchase the annual Gold membership this month. Zomato is also offering the subscription for ₹1,200 in the month of April.

"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, Zomato.

"Zomato has always worked towards connecting passionate restaurateurs with millions of potential customers. Today, we must use our scale to stand by our partners in need in these testing times. We are starting this initiative in India and UAE and hope to support as many restaurants as we can," he added.