Brands during COVID-19

Aditi Agarwal
TINDER
Tinder’s team recognizes that daters might want to connect with people abroad during the COVID-19
pandemic, so starting next week, the company is making its Passport feature free for all users through
April 30th. Passport allows people to pay to swipe abroad wherever they want. It usually costs money
to access through either Tinder Gold or Tinder Plus.

In a note sent to all Match Group employees about the decision, CEO Shar Dubey said the decision
will give the Tinder community “the technology to share, learn and listen to those that are
experiencing this same situation in different geographies during an unprecedented period of
isolation.”

With Passport, users can search by city or drop a pin anywhere on the map to start swiping there. The
company says it hopes “you use the Passport feature to virtually transport yourself out of self-
quarantine to anywhere in the world.”

Separately, Match is also launching a live-streaming feature called Live on its Plenty of Fish service.
The live-streaming feature lets daters stream live, like they would on most other social platforms.
People can search for streams nearby and leave comments as they watch, which can eventually be
moved to private messages.

Clearly, people around the world are feeling isolated as they practice social distancing and, in some
countries, are told to stay in their homes. Daters are persisting, however, and looking for a buddy they
can talk to while home and, maybe eventually, see in person when the pandemic eventually ends.
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DINEOUT
Restaurant aggregation technology platform Dineout introduced 'Restaurant Vouchers' earlier today.
These vouchers can be bought now, and be redeemed later when the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
subsides. "While we are encouraging our diners to stay home despite financial implications on us, local
restaurant businesses need our support more than ever as they face severe losses," Ankit Mehrotra, Co-
Founder and CEO Dineout said in a statement.

Restaurant vouchers can be purchased via Dineout on supportrestaurants.in, available in Rs 1,000

denominations that can be redeemed in the next 6 months. Dineout will transfer the funds to the
restaurants at no additional charges to ensure that restaurants continue to receive the crucial cash-flow
to survive these trying times, and food-lovers get discounted coupons from their favorite eateries in
town. Customers can now buy these vouchers at a discounted price at over 20,000 partner restaurants.

Dineout has also started an online petition to support the National Restaurant Association Of India
(NRAI) on change.org, requesting the government to help restaurants with employee unemployment
pay cover, moratorium on upcoming statutory dues, delay in utility bill payments, holiday/temporary
stoppage on EMI payments & interest, freezing rental dues and restoration of Input Tax Credit on GST
for all restaurants.

The food industry is only one of the many that have been directly hit by the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic globally. With India under lockdown until at least April 15, it now remains to be seen how
the industry manages to cope, and if regulatory and organising bodies come forth to help out an
industry under financial distress.
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