Zomato has announced the immediate closure of its Intercity Legends service, which allowed customers to order iconic dishes from 10 different cities across India for delivery to other parts of the country. This decision followed a temporary pause and subsequent relaunch of the service in July, aimed at improving profitability.
Deepinder Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Zomato, confirmed the shutdown via a tweet on X, explaining, “After two years of trying and not finding product-market fit, we have decided to shut down the service with immediate effect.”
Intercity Legends, which initially launched in 2022, had undergone several adjustments in an attempt to enhance its financial viability, including the introduction of a minimum order value of Rs. 5,000. Despite that, the service continued to struggle financially, leading to its eventual discontinuation.
The closure of Intercity Legends comes as Zomato shifts its focus toward diversifying into adjacent sectors to boost revenue and strengthen its market position. This is not the first time Zomato has pulled the plug on a service; the company previously discontinued Xtreme, a logistics service for small parcels, after it failed to meet expectations.
When Intercity Legends was first launched, Zomato was optimistic about its potential. In a blog post at the time, the company had highlighted the vast culinary diversity of India, stating, “A jewel hide in every nook and corner of India… the sky is the limit how big Intercity Legends can become.”
Despite this optimism, the service ultimately did not achieve the success Zomato had hoped for. Meanwhile, the company is channelling its resources into other ventures. On August 21, Zomato announced the acquisition of Paytm’s entertainment and ticketing business for Rs. 2,048 crore, marking its expansion into the ‘going-out’ segment as it continues to explore new avenues for growth.