‘Cutlery Needed’ on Swiggy and Zomato: What It Means for Customers and Restaurants

Updated 2 November 2026.

What does “cutlery needed” mean on Swiggy and Zomato?

“Cutlery needed” is a checkout option on Swiggy and Zomato that asks whether the restaurant should pack disposable spoons, forks and tissues with your order. Tick it and the kitchen adds them. Leave it off and you get the food only. On Zomato, cutlery has been opt-in since August 2021, so nothing comes unless you ask (OfficeChai, 2021).

If you’re eating at home with your own steel spoons, leave it off. Turn it on if you’re eating at a desk, in a car or at a picnic.

Key Takeaways

• “Cutlery needed” means the restaurant packs disposable cutlery with the order. It is a request, not a charge.
• Zomato switched cutlery from opt-out to opt-in in August 2021 and estimated it would save up to 5,000 kg of plastic a day.
• By 2022, Zomato said 74% of its orders were going out without cutlery (Outlook Business, 2022).
• Plastic forks, spoons, knives and straws have been banned in India since 1 July 2022, so any cutlery a restaurant sends has to be wood, bagasse or another non-plastic material.

Where is the cutlery option in the app?

On both apps it sits on the cart screen, just before payment, usually as a toggle or a checkbox near the bill details. Zomato’s wording has varied over the years (“Don’t send cutlery”, then an opt-in request), and Swiggy’s label can change between app versions. Swiggy’s own blog tells users to check their order’s add-ons before confirming, because a platform default may already be set.

A quick way to get it right:

1. Open your cart after adding items.
2. Scroll to the section above the bill summary.
3. Look for the cutlery line. If it says “cutlery needed” (or similar) and you don’t need it, switch it off.
4. If the restaurant sends cutlery you didn’t ask for, Zomato lets you report it from the order’s help section.

Some restaurants also send a napkin or a wet tissue as standard. That’s their packing choice, not the toggle.

Why did Zomato make cutlery opt-in?

Zomato said most customers never needed the plastic: in its survey of thousands of users, over 90% said they didn’t really need cutlery with home deliveries. It estimated the opt-in default would save up to 5,000 kg of plastic a day, about 2 million kg a year, and Rs 2-5 per order for restaurants (OfficeChai, 2021).

People rarely change a default. When the box was pre-ticked, almost everyone got spoons. Once it was left empty, most orders went out without them. Zomato reported that 74% of its orders were cutlery-free by April 2022.

Zomato said at launch that it did not expect full compliance from restaurants straight away, and added a way for customers to report cutlery they didn’t ask for.

What the cutlery toggle means if you run a restaurant

For a restaurant or cloud kitchen, the toggle is a packing instruction you have to honour on every order. Plastic cutlery has been off the table since 1 July 2022, when the single-use plastic ban took effect under the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021. Forks, spoons, knives, straws, stirrers and plastic plates and cups are all on the list.

So the toggle leaves you with three jobs:

• Make sure the cutlery flag prints clearly on the kitchen order ticket, so the packing station sees it before the rider arrives.
• Don’t send cutlery when the toggle is off. Unrequested cutlery is a cost you pay for nothing, and on Zomato it can draw a complaint.
• When the customer does ask, the cutlery has to be non-plastic: wooden spoons and forks, bagasse spoons, or similar.

Check your own order data for how many orders arrive with the toggle on before you buy cutlery in bulk. If most come in with it off, you can hold less stock and reorder less often.

What cutlery can a restaurant legally send?

Anything that isn’t single-use plastic. Since July 2022 that leaves a short list: wooden cutlery (birch or similar), bagasse cutlery made from sugarcane fibre, and reusable steel for dine-in. “Biodegradable plastic” spoons sit in a grey zone, so ask your supplier for the material and certification in writing rather than relying on a label.

CHUK makes wooden spoons and forks for exactly this case: an order where the customer has ticked “cutlery needed”.

Does the rest of your delivery packaging pass the plastic ban?

Cutlery is the item customers notice, but the ban covers more. Plastic plates, cups, glasses and carry bags under 120 microns are also out, and Category I rigid plastic packaging carries recycled-content targets under the 2022 EPR guidelines, starting at 30% in 2025-26 and rising to 60% from 2028-29. If a container fails, the fine lands on the business that used it, not only on the supplier.

What should a delivery kitchen check?

• Containers and lids for curries, dals and rice. Bagasse containers handle hot, oily Indian food well. Our hot-food safety guide covers what to test.
• Plates and compartment trays for thali-style orders.
• Carry bags in paper or another compliant material.
• Supplier paperwork covering the material, food-contact suitability, and compostability certification where the product claims it.

The takeaway packaging guide goes container by container if you’re rebuilding the whole kit.

Why packaging matters more on delivery than in the dining room

A delivery customer never sees your kitchen. The first thing they touch is the box, then the bag, then whatever is or isn’t inside it. A leaking container or a pile of spoons nobody asked for is the impression you leave, and there’s no waiter to fix it.

For a cloud kitchen there is no dining room at all, so the packaging is the only part of the restaurant the customer handles. Sending cutlery only when it’s asked for cuts a cost and keeps waste the customer didn’t want out of the bag.

The same goes for quick-commerce food menus like Bistro by Blinkit: faster delivery doesn’t change the packing rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “cutlery needed” mean in Swiggy?

It means you’re asking the restaurant to pack disposable cutlery, such as a spoon and fork, with your order. If you leave it off, the restaurant sends only the food. The option sits on the cart screen before payment, and you can change it on every order.

Is cutlery free on Swiggy and Zomato?

Zomato’s 2021 announcement treated cutlery as a restaurant cost: it estimated the opt-in default would save restaurants Rs 2-5 per order. If any charge applies to your order, it shows in the bill details before you pay.

How do I stop getting cutlery with my food orders?

Switch the cutlery option off on the cart screen before you pay. On Zomato, cutlery has been opt-in since August 2021, so you only get it if you ask. If a restaurant sends it anyway, report it from the order’s help section.

Can restaurants send plastic spoons with delivery orders?

No. Plastic cutlery, including forks, spoons, knives, straws and stirrers, has been banned in India since 1 July 2022 under the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021. Cutlery sent with an order should be wooden, bagasse or another non-plastic material.

What does “send cutlery” mean in Zomato?

It’s Zomato’s request for disposable cutlery with your order. Zomato made cutlery opt-in in August 2021, so the default is no cutlery. By 2022 the company said 74% of its orders went out without any.