Zomato adds Food Hygiene Grading to its menu in Auckland; launches new Collections feature.

Auckland, 4 June, 2014: Zomato, the city’s most comprehensive restaurant search service which launched its New Zealand section in July 2013, has incorporated Auckland Council’s Food Hygiene Grade system into its core content features. The Auckland Council Food Safety Bylaw ensures that all businesses providing food to the public display a certificate that shows their grade and maintain best food hygiene practices.

This new additional feature makes the restaurant information on the website more exhaustive and relevant for anyone looking to dine out or order-in. The restaurant grading information was provided by the Auckland Council, which is governed by the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974. Currently, Zomato lists Food Grade information for over 2500 restaurants in Auckland, and the feature will be incorporated into the mobile app as well.

Restaurants are graded on criteria such as upkeep of the premises, process control, hygiene, sanitation, and cleanliness, among other aspects. Zomato ensures that this crucial information is made available to its users, allowing them to make informed decisions before they pick a place to eat. "Many of our users in Auckland consider the Food Grade system an important aspect before visiting a restaurant. Since 2008, we have been working towards creating a credible network for foodies wherein users have access to safe and good food options”, said Sahil Ludhani, Zomato’s Country Manager for NZ.

Zomato ensures that all the restaurant information including this additional feature is updated on a regular basis. Additionally, restaurant owners can apprise Zomato of their upgraded certification.

Zomato also launched its latest feature, Collections. Based on user activity and interest, Collections will enable users to browse restaurants presented in categories based on popular themes in their city. Building on its exhaustive restaurant content, Collections on Zomato covers everything from daily dinners to Romantic Dining, Late Nighters, Breakfast Places, Pet-Friendly Restaurants, and many more.

“Having added a social layer to restaurant discovery, we wanted to go a step further and provide information that foodies want, but may not necessarily want to search for. With Collections, we’ve turned popular theme-based searches into bite-sized lists of restaurants that address specific use-cases. In addition to the search aspect of Zomato, Collections opens up a whole new world from the discover point of view”, said Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO, Zomato.

About Zomato

Zomato is an online and mobile restaurant discovery service, providing in-depth information for over 228,200 restaurants across 12 countries. Zomato's core content features include menus, photos and geocoded coordinates for restaurants; allowing users to find, rate and review restaurants, as well as engage in social interactions with other foodies.

Zomato currently sees over 16 million monthly visits globally, across its web and mobile platforms, from people searching for places to go out for a meal, get home delivery, catch up at a cafe, or enjoy the local nightlife. The highly targeted platform makes it convenient for restaurateurs to interact with customers who are looking for meal options.

Zomato was started in Delhi in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. The company has since expanded its services to 41 cities across India, UK, UAE, South Africa, New Zealand, the Philippines, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Portugal, and Qatar.

For more information, please visit: http://www.zomato.com or write to us at pr@zomato.com

Contact Info:

Sahil Ludhani (Country Manager, New Zealand, Zomato)
sahil@zomato.com

Yatchi Yan (Associate, Public Relations, Zomato New Zealand)
yatchi@zomato.com // 021 172 6326