A Pune man named Pankaj Shukla claimed to have found a piece of chicken in a plate of paneer biryani he ordered from the online food delivery app Zomato. Shukla, a vegetarian, expressed that his “religious sentiments were hurt” by the incident. He took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a photo and a video of the biryani, along with a post detailing his experience.
In his post, Shukla stated that he received a full refund for his order but felt compelled to share his experience regardless. He emphasized that he is a religious person and the presence of chicken in his vegetarian dish had deeply offended him.
Zomato’s official customer care account responded promptly to Shukla’s post, assuring him that they “never compromise with anyone’s sentiments.” They requested him to share details of his order so that they could investigate the matter further.
However, netizens were not particularly impressed with Zomato’s response. Several users commented, expressing their skepticism about Shukla’s claims and suggesting that he may have intentionally added the chicken piece to the biryani to gain attention. Others criticized Zomato for launching a “pure veg” fleet in the past, which was later rolled back due to criticism.
Zomato’s founder-CEO, Deepinder Goyal, had previously explained that the “pure veg” fleet was launched based on market research indicating a preference for veg-only options among a majority of respondents. Goyal cited spiritual reasons rather than caste or religion as the primary motivation behind this preference.
