‘It breaks my heart’: Grofers boss slams social media critics

Albinder Dhindsa, the founder of Indian startup Grofers, has responded to “hate” being directed at his company.

Grofers has been facing a social media backlash, with people claiming that its delivery partners are being exploited.

“I don't want my groceries delivered in 10 or 20 minutes. I would rather that the delivery person takes his time to safely deliver,” said Pooja Prasanna, Deputy Editor at The News Minute.

“Same for my food. Raise your voice. Tell companies like Grofers, Big Basket, Swiggy and Zomato. There is no market for abusing their delivery persons.”

“Grofers delivered groceries within 13 minutes and the co-founder responds back that it’s three minutes too long,” commented entrepreneur Sanket Dangi.

“For god's sake, these are groceries - not life saving medicines. Please don't put unnecessary pressure on the delivery boys just for marketing gimmicks!”

In a statement on Twitter, Dhindsa said that the criticism “breaks my heart…Instead of celebrating innovations (and startup success) coming from India, some of us stay cynical/envious of people who are trying to break the status quo.”

"We need more people who dare, and less of those who pull them down," he added.

He stated that Grofers' partner stores are located within 2 km of its customers and that it currently has 60+ stores in Delhi and 30+ stores in Gurugram.

The venture’s stores are so densely located that it can deliver 90% of orders within 15 minutes even if the riders drive under 10 km per hour.

"Our in store planning and tech is now so good that we pack most orders under 2.5 minutes. Our riders are not (dis) incentivised to deliver orders fast.”

“We've had zero reported rider accidents in the last two months since we launched 10 minute grocery delivery," he commented.

Zomato to the rescue

Dhindsa also received support on social media, including from a senior executive at Zomato.

"Just because something gets done fast, doesn't mean it is done at subpar quality - or is done by compromising on security. Fast delivery = riskier driving, assumes a zero sum game.”

“There are ways to make things faster and safer. One just needs to get out of zero sum game mindset," tweeted Pradyot Ghate, Zomato VP Product & Payments.

Grofers recently announced a $100 million round involving Zomato and became a unicorn in the process, with a valuation of just over $1 billion.

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