Zomato on Friday said it has signed an agreement with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to onboard 300 food street vendors on its platform.
The online restaurant guide and food ordering platform said it will onboard 300 street vendors across six cities - Bhopal, Raipur, Patna, Vadodara, Nagpur, and Ludhiana - in the first phase.
Considering the popularity of street food in these cities, there is an immense growth potential for these vendors in the online food delivery sphere, it added.
"With this, these street vendors will not just be able to serve their loyal customers within the safety of their own homes but will also reach a much larger customer base using Zomato's technology and last-mile delivery services," the statement said.
Zomato said it is looking to create a more sustainable and thriving ecosystem for street food vendors and facilitate greater earning opportunities for them.
The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI registration, training on technology/partner app usage, menu digitisation and pricing, hygiene and packaging best practices. Upon successful completion of the pilot, MoHUA and Zomato plan to expand the initiative across the country in phases.
MoHUA had entered into a similar arrangement with Swiggy in October last year. The initiative with Swiggy covered Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Indore and Varanasi.
The story has been lightly edited.