Food delivery major Zomato has had a troublesome few weeks, with no respite in sight as far as its tussle with restaurant owners is concerned, and several thousand delivery executives going on strike in major business centres Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Ongoing negotiations between the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) and the company on its discounting policies have not reached a conclusion yet, even though the company has discontinued the contentious Infinity Dining plan offered to its Zomato Gold subscribers and made several other tweaks.
While the NRAI has said there has been positive momentum on talks with both Zomato and rival Swiggy after its latest meeting on Monday, this week, the association is adamant on the Zomato Gold programme.
“NRAI remains steadfast in its belief that Zomato Gold in its current form is not acceptable in either dine-in or delivery segment,” it had said. The association has been running a #logout campaign against food aggregator platforms that are giving ‘deep discounts’.
Meanwhile, Zomato is also facing trouble from its delivery executives, a large number of whom protested in Mumbai and Bengaluru on Tuesday, demanding better pay and benefits. The company has also laid off nearly 540 employees across customer support, merchant and delivery support teams on September 7, citing improved AI customer query resolutions.