Amid stand-off, Zomato to now launch Gold for delivery services
The stand-off between the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and food-tech giants over high discounts at restaurants through passes like Zomato Gold appears to be resolving. However, as this happens, Zomato is moving ahead with another contentious plan - bringing Gold benefits into its delivery menu. Here's all you need to know about it.
In a recent meeting, the NRAI, which led the #Logout movement calling restaurants to ditch services like Zomato, objected against discounted dine-in passes like Zomato Gold. However, according to Anurag Katriar, the head of NRAI Mumbai Chapter, Zomato isn't willing to ditch Gold. In fact, it is determined to bring the program into its delivery services too.
While NRAI objected that proposition as well, Zomato confirmed its stance on Saturday. "There has been a long-standing demand from our users to bring Gold to delivery since delivery constitutes a large part of their engagement," a company spokesperson said. "We have been working on this and will be launching a program soon across multiple cities," he added.
Notably, Zomato claimed that its plan to expand Gold into delivery won't cripple the business of its restaurant partners. "We have utilized the recent time to secure valuable feedback from our restaurant partners to ensure the Gold programme we launch is sustainable and aids the growth of the industry," the company said while emphasizing on its goal.
Having said that, NRAI and food aggregators have come to an in-principle agreement to resolve critical issues plaguing restaurants within a specific period. The problems, Katriar said, include deep discounting, high and uneven commission charges, data masking and mandatory bundling of services. Now, the companies are likely to meet the NRAI in a few weeks and present an action plan.
