New platform connects restaurants with suitable packaging materials and verified suppliers across India
Zomato has launched PackSwitch, an interactive platform aimed at helping restaurants identify and adopt sustainable packaging solutions suited to different food items.
The initiative addresses one of the key challenges in the transition away from conventional plastic packaging: selecting packaging that can deliver the right combination of functionality, cost-effectiveness, availability and environmental performance.
Through PackSwitch, restaurants can follow a simple three-step process. They can first select the type of dish or food category, explore packaging materials suitable for that application, and then identify relevant suppliers. The platform provides information on packaging performance, business viability and environmental considerations, helping restaurants make more informed packaging decisions.
The platform features a range of alternative materials, including bagasse, aluminium, areca, compostable plastics, earthenware, glass and paper-based solutions, including kraft and coated paper variants. PackSwitch also provides access to a network of more than 100 verified packaging suppliers across India.
Moving Beyond a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Foodservice packaging requirements vary significantly depending on the product being packed. Hot meals, gravies, fried foods, beverages and moisture-sensitive products require different levels of heat resistance, grease resistance, moisture protection, strength and leak prevention.
PackSwitch is designed around this dish-specific approach, allowing restaurants to evaluate packaging materials according to the requirements of individual food categories rather than simply replacing plastic with a single alternative material.
The initiative could also help address another major challenge in sustainable packaging adoption—access to reliable suppliers. By bringing packaging options and verified sourcing partners together on one platform, PackSwitch aims to simplify the transition from identifying an appropriate material to actually procuring it.
Building on Zomato’s Plastic-Free Packaging Initiative
PackSwitch builds on Zomato’s existing Plastic-Free Future programme, through which more than 10,000 restaurants across 500+ cities have been recognised for adopting alternatives to plastic packaging.
According to Zomato, participating restaurants had collectively delivered more than 100 million low-plastic packaging orders as of March 31, 2026.
The new platform also includes sustainable packaging solutions available through Hyperpure, Zomato’s B2B supply platform, which serves more than 100,000 restaurant outlets across India.
A Significant Opportunity for the Foodservice Packaging Industry
The launch of PackSwitch highlights the growing importance of application-specific sustainable packaging in India’s rapidly expanding food-delivery and restaurant ecosystem.
For packaging manufacturers and converters, the initiative could create new opportunities in areas such as paper-based food containers, coated and barrier papers, moulded fibre packaging, bagasse products and other low-plastic alternatives.
By combining packaging education, material selection and supplier access, PackSwitch represents a move toward making sustainable packaging adoption more practical for restaurants while creating greater visibility for packaging solutions across the foodservice sector.
