Zomato flags 10–30% cost uplift as restaurants shift to sustainable packaging

Zomato has launched PackSwitch for restaurant partners and a low-plastic packaging filter in its app. The company says a move away from plastic packaging could raise food-delivery order costs by 10–30%, despite packaging currently accounting for roughly 5% of order value.

— Source published Wed, 19 Aug, 2026, 11:08 IST · First seen Wed, 19 Aug, 2026, 11:36 IST · Source Business Today · Latest

What happened

Zomato says shifting from plastic to sustainable food-delivery packaging could raise customer order costs by 10%-30%. It launched PackSwitch for restaurant

Key facts

  • 10%-30% potential increase in food-delivery order costs
  • Packaging currently accounts for about 5% of an order's total cost
  • More than 10,000 restaurants recognised
  • Over 500 cities

Why this matters

The packaging-cost gap creates partnership and acquisition opportunities in scalable low-plastic materials, supplier aggregation and packaging-tech solutions that can reduce restaurants’ conversion costs.

What to watch

  • PackSwitch supplier pricing and evidence that the stated 10–30% uplift narrows after bulk procurement.
  • Changes in average order value, order frequency and conversion for low-plastic-filter restaurants versus comparable peers.
  • Restaurant adoption rates by city, chain versus independent operator, and low- versus high-AOV cuisine categories.
  • Municipal or national restrictions, enforcement actions, taxes or extended-producer-responsibility rules targeting food-delivery packaging.
  • Growth in packaging-related refunds, spill complaints, food-quality ratings and delivery-partner handling issues.
  • Competitor responses from Swiggy and major quick-commerce platforms, including procurement subsidies or consumer-facing green fees.
  • Use PackSwitch procurement volume to negotiate lower prices for compostable, bagasse, paper and reusable packaging.
  • Segment sustainable-packaging adoption by cuisine, order value, city and restaurant tier rather than applying a uniform mandate.
  • Introduce app-level incentives such as green-delivery badges, lower commission on compliant packaging, sponsored placement or consumer opt-in contributions.
  • Push packaging suppliers toward standardized, leak-resistant formats to reduce food-waste, refund and customer-complaint costs.
  • Monitor whether restaurant menu-price inflation forces higher discounting or changes subscription economics.