NEW DELHI: Talks between National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and food delivery aggregators remain in stalemate, failing to yield any resolution over the issue of deep discounting by Swiggy and Zomato.
Even as Zomato has put the contentious Infinity dining programme in abeyance till further notice, the restaurants’ trade body on Monday said no significant progress has been made on its Gold programme during the two-day talks held with the firm.
“NRAI is steadfast in its belief that Zomato Gold in its current form is not acceptable in either dine-in or delivery segment,” said Anurag Katriar, president, NRAI. This was the second meeting with both the key delivery aggregators Swiggy and Zomato, over the weekend to follow up on the initial discussions held on August 29 on eight critical issues pertaining to the online delivery space which are crippling the food service industry.
Barring the issue around the Gold programme, the ongoing tussle between restaurants’ trade body and food aggregators and delivery platforms, however, seems to be entering a settlement stage as “the talks were largely positive and both the aggregators presented a concrete roadmap”, NRAI said. The desired changes are fairly large so their total resolution might take some time, Katriar added.
The association also noted that talks with Dineout, Gourmet Passport, Nearbuy and Magicpin were back in business and out of the purview of #Logout campaign in the dining vertical. “Talks with Eazydiner have also advanced and the NRAI expects an early resolution with them,” it said.