Zomato's 'food has no religion' tweet turned a customer complaint into a national debate

On July 30, 2019, a customer in Jabalpur, India, cancelled a Zomato order and tweeted that he had done so because the assigned delivery rider was Muslim. Zomato's customer-care team initially offered a refund, but CEO Deepinder Goyal intervened and the company posted a public response: 'Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion.'

The tweet went viral. Many praised Zomato for standing against discrimination, but a significant segment of social and political opinion attacked the company as 'anti-Hindu' and called for a boycott. The hashtag #BoycottZomato trended. Zomato stood by its position and Goyal said he was 'not sorry to lose any business' over the tweet.

The episode highlighted the risk of national brands being drawn into India's religious polarisation through a single customer interaction. It also showed how a single response, however principled, can become a political flashpoint in a diverse market.

Zomato survived the storm and later grew into one of India's dominant food-delivery platforms. The tweet remains one of its most cited moments of corporate stance-taking.