Zomato pilots office food vending machines in Gurugram

Zomato is testing ‘Zomato Now’ vending machines with restaurant partners in Gurugram corporate offices, positioning prepared meals closer to workplace consumers and extending its rapid-delivery playbook beyond rider-led fulfilment.

— Source published Fri, 21 Aug, 2026, 20:36 IST · First seen Fri, 21 Aug, 2026, 20:58 IST · Source Inc42

What happened

Zomato is piloting ‘Zomato Now’ restaurant-partnered food vending machines in Gurugram corporate offices, moving prepared food closer to consumers. The

Key facts

  • Zomato food delivery adjusted EBITDA: ₹606 Cr in Q1 FY27
  • Blinkit adjusted EBITDA: ₹102 Cr in Q1 FY27
  • Zomato food delivery operating profit: ₹621 Cr
  • Zomato food delivery revenue: ₹3,100 Cr, up 37% YoY
  • Platform-fee revenue: ₹154 Cr in Q1 FY27
  • Eternal consolidated net profit: ₹92 Cr, up nearly 3.7X from ₹25 Cr
  • Eternal operating revenue: ₹20,211 Cr, up 182% YoY
  • Eternal share price: ₹327.60

Why this matters

The format creates partnership opportunities with corporate parks, office landlords, restaurant chains and vending-tech providers, while positioning Zomato to control more of the workplace food-distribution stack.

What to watch

  • Expansion from a small Gurugram pilot to multiple office campuses or additional NCR cities.
  • Named corporate real-estate, employer, vending-technology or restaurant-chain partnerships.
  • Evidence that ordering occurs through the Zomato app rather than only walk-up purchases.
  • Menu breadth, stated holding times, temperature-control standards and food-waste policies.
  • Pricing relative to delivered meals and whether corporate subsidies or meal-wallet integrations are introduced.
  • Any reported metrics on repeat purchase, daily machine throughput, stockouts, spoilage or unit economics.
  • Swiggy, EatSure, corporate caterers or smart-vending operators announcing comparable office meal infrastructure.
  • Secure pilot agreements with large Gurugram employers, coworking operators and business parks, potentially bundling employee meal benefits.
  • Concentrate inventory around predictable lunch, evening-snack and late-work windows; use app pre-orders and dynamic markdowns to reduce waste.
  • Build a tightly controlled restaurant-partner roster with standardized packaging, shelf-life, temperature and replenishment requirements.
  • Integrate machine inventory into the Zomato app, enabling reservations, loyalty offers, corporate billing and demand forecasting.
  • Test whether machines can also act as pickup lockers or replenishment points for nearby rapid-food orders.
  • Use pilot results to compare contribution margins against rider-led delivery, including machine capex, maintenance, spoilage and partner commissions.

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