The tussle between food aggregator Zomato and the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has turned ugly. The NRAI had launched a #Logout campaign against the food aggregators following which over 1,200 restaurants in major Indian cities delisted from the dine-in programmes of food aggregators, ignoring the request from Zomato to stop the campaign.
Over the last couple of days, the NRAI held a series of meetings with food aggregators wherein it was decided that all aggregators will rejig their features which will allow the restaurant-customer ecosystem to detox from addiction of deep-discounts that has crippled the industry.
But late last evening, NRAI issued a statement castigating the food aggregator and terming the email sent by Zomato to all its member restaurants as a knee-jerk reaction.
Excerpts: “We are in receipt of the mass email sent out by Zomato to all member restaurants…It’s a validation of the fact that Zomato acknowledges the deep discounting epidemic…However, the ‘reconstruct of gold’ is another attempt to stuff old wine in a new bottle.
It’s a tweak in the drug, which doesn’t solve the addiction. Two days back, a stiff penalty clause was invoked to re-join the programme if the notice period is not served. Today, they have sweetened the pill in the form of free signup to re-join the programme…What started as an exclusive invite only privilege to a marketplace for ‘bargain hunters’, a word admitted by the founder of Zomato in recent tweets, this gold has lost its sheen forever. We stand united in the cause to obliviate the deep discounting phenomenon, and will therefore *#stayloggedout*.”
Restaurateurs unhappy with food aggregators
“At first, these mobile apps list you for free and then lure for more advertisements to get more visibility. After you are in, they keep promising lucrative sales but keep charging you more and more. The simple answer is if you want to stay on the top you need to pay for advertisement which is still ok if business is going smooth.
But then come these riders who are mixing up the orders and not delivering it properly and this goof up defames a restaurant,” says Arjun Chaddha, Owner, The Culinary Affaire.
“Discounting works well in the retail space. Unlike retail, where end of season sale is to clear leftovers, a restaurant doesn’t serve leftovers at a discounted price,” says Rahul Singh, NRAI President and Founder-
CEO, The Beer Café.
Agrees Arpan Gupta, who owns Take off Scarlet and An Ivory Region at Punjabi Bagh. “It is very difficult for us to pull out from these luring applications as people crave for deals and we too want to satisfy our customers but I feel a system which could benefit both restaurants and applications should be worked out.”
Akash Salwan, Owner, The Drunk Horese Pub, Rajouri Garden, feels Zomato Gold should be completely eradicated. “This will allow the restaurant-customer ecosystem to detox from the addiction of deep-discounts that have crippled the industry.”
Abhishek Singh, Owner of Adda 126, Noida, has been using Zomato and Dineout over the last seven-eight months. But says that all the promises given at the time of getting onboard were fake.
“Zomato Gold makes a customer take 1:1 deal which is hampering my business. Zomato Gold makes a customer take 1:1 deal which is hampering my business. Dineout sold me Super Saver. It charged me Rs 40k + GST and promised four times business within a month.
But I ended up giving 53 per cent discount as they also charged me seven per cent on payments processed through them. I ran into bad losses. I believe Zomato Gold is this biggest culprit followed by Dineout and Magicpin.”