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Eternal owned food delivery platform Zomato is experimenting with a new format aimed at bringing ready to eat food closer to consumers through vending machines installed at corporate offices in Gurugram.
Called Zomato Now, the initiative involves food vending machines or pods that are being set up in partnership with restaurants. Instead of focusing solely on reducing delivery times, the format aims to place food directly at locations with concentrated consumer demand, allowing office goers to access meals and snacks more conveniently.
The experiment marks another step in Zomato’s efforts to explore new formats within the food delivery ecosystem. The company has previously introduced and tested offerings such as Zomato Instant, Everyday and Ritual, while its core food delivery business continues to remain a key driver of profitability.
The move also reflects the evolving nature of convenience led food consumption, where platforms are looking beyond the traditional restaurant to customer delivery model and experimenting with new ways to serve consumers.
Zomato’s food delivery business reported an operating profit of ₹621 crore in the first quarter of FY27, while revenue rose 37 per cent year on year to ₹3,100 crore. Its adjusted EBITDA stood at ₹606 crore during the quarter, compared with ₹102 crore reported by Blinkit.
Meanwhile, parent company Eternal reported a consolidated net profit of ₹92 crore, up 3.7 times year on year, while operating revenue surged 182 per cent to ₹20,211 crore.
With Zomato Now, the company appears to be testing whether convenience can be taken a step further by moving food closer to where consumers work and spend their day. If scaled, the vending machine format could open up another avenue for Zomato and its restaurant partners to serve high footfall locations beyond the conventional delivery model.
