The ongoing pandemic has resulted in restaurants getting shut across India, and the future of its over 7.3 million direct and indirect employees looks bleak. To address the concerns of restaurateurs seeking answers on the future of their businesses in a post-COVID-19 scenario, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) hosted a webinar, TownHall Live, recently.
The NRAI that represents over five lakh restaurants, is trying to unite this sector and working towards developing alternative digital platforms that will level the playing field between restaurants and food delivery platforms.
Talking about the recent launch of Rise For Restaurants (R4R) programme for customers, NRAI Managing Committee Member Thomas Fenn said that the industry is working together to create an alternate technology solution to reorient and sustain their businesses in the post-COVID-19 world.
"Our focus is on easy reconciliation, transparent pricing, cheaper delivery and protection of customer data. The solution will be driven by customer loyalty, Omni channel online sales, integrated payment gateways and digitised delivery logistics," he said ruing that aggregators have become digital landlords, whose one-sided policies are destroying the business, especially small restaurants.
"Members of NRAI collectively own and operate some of the most popular restaurants and bars across the country. We feel we have an ability to create the most comprehensive and attractive loyalty programme with some of the best names in the business coming together. We reckon that there cannot be a better programme than this in our trade. Once again, this will be by the industry and for the industry," said Anurag Katriar, NRAI President.
“We have tied up with one of the largest player in this sphere, and have already drawn out our blueprint and work is going on at a good pace. We will be in a position to launch this in a few months,” said Katriar.