Social media is an invaluable tool for brands and businesses to stay in the news and therefore in the consciousness of consumers. Zomato does this better than most. They ask a question about what’s cooking, they announced progressive initiatives that trigger debate and basically manage to stay front and centre for their target audience. Recently Zomato's ‘ghar jaisa khana’ post drew a lot of attention and started a conversation:
According to Zomato, it is a compliment to say that the food is just like home food. That is ‘beautiful’ according to the food delivery app.
After seeing this post I decided to ‘Zomato’ some dessert I've been craving – simply because I could. Clearly their social media strategy works!
So why not replace the star rating system with phrases such as these, asked one commentator.
Maggi is like a default meal for Indians – in hostel, when one is travelling and wants a cheap but familiar meal, when one doesn’t want to cook an elaborate meal at home…
I think this this is more accurate – if some dish is particularly well made at home, the compliment is likely to be – restaurant quality!
Which really is the point, isn't it? Why would we order food from outside if we wanted to eat a ‘home-cooked meal’? If we wanted a home-cooked meal, we would eat a home-cooked meal not pay a bunch of extra for the same thing we get at home.
‘Ghar jaisa kahna’ is a compliment only from hostel dwellers. Unusually hostel food is so bad, that students long for some ghar ka khana. A home-cooked meal or ma ke haath ka khana or whatever isn't as much appreciated at home.
This handle that claims to focus on academics and hobbies for school kids also chimed in.
This is a screengrab of Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal's Twitter handle. It doesn’t seem as though he likes home cooked food. His Twitter bio hasn’t changed.
This is the commonly held view – if we wanted ghar jaisa khana, we would eat home-cooked food. The reason we order from outside is that we don’t want a home-cooked meal and would rather than someone else cook for us for a change.
Zomato, please ask those of us who have to cook three meals for an average family of four each day, every day. Ghar ka khana is an unpaid labour of love --- maybe don't romanticise it? Restaurant food means at least someone is getting paid – Zomato more than most.
Do you have something interesting you would like to share? Write to us at [email protected]
