Zomato Bids Farewell as It Stops Operations in the Philippines

So, this is goodbye.

Multinational restaurant aggregator and food delivery company Zomato has officially ended its operations in the Philippines. The announcement was made on Zomato's now non-operational website.

"Goodbye Philippines! It has been a great run but we have, sadly, stopped our operations here!" the announcement read. "You can still explore dine-in restaurants and order amazing food on Zomato in India and [United Arab Emirates]."

Zomato Philippines' official Facebook and Instagram accounts have also not been updated since Oct. 12, 2020.

Zomato serves as an online dining and restaurant guide where users can search for favorite and new restaurants, menus, photos, and reviews from other users. It also allows users to order food delivery and book tables through the platform, and partners with food and beverage establishments to offer dining discounts.

Zomato's end surely spells the culmination of an era. Zomato had been a familiar figure to many Filipino foodies’ haunts, from searching for the best date spot and chill watering hole for inuman with friends to discovering the hippest gastropub on the block.

For many, still, the aggregator was simply the go-to of the hungry yet indecisive whose questions of "Saan tayo kakain?" (Where will we eat?) often went unresolved.

The Indian company, founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, launched in 2010. According to a report by GMA News Online on April 4, 2013, Metro Manila was Zomato's first market in Southeast Asia. Goyal, then, was quoted as saying that it was a choice between the Philippines and Thailand, but they had learned that the former was a bigger market.