BackSwiggy, Zomato set to meet NRAI executives on Friday
The move comes close to a month after the NRAI led the delisting of several restaurants across India from dining-membership driven apps such as Zomato Gold, Dineout and EazyDiner, among othersThere were concerns that complimentary offers doled out by them were hurting business at restaurants
PremiumNew Delhi: Executives from online food delivery companies Swiggy and Zomato are set to meet the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Friday (September 13) amid ongoing discussions among the two parties to bring a level-playing field to the food aggregation business in India.
The meeting is a follow-up to discussions held last month between the two parties that saw top executives from Zomato, and Swiggy meet members of the restaurant association after the latter raised concerns that unfair practices such as steep discounts and bundling of services was hurting business at eateries in India.
The meeting could set the tone for how aggregators set their terms and conditions to give in to the demands made by restaurants going forward.
“They have confirmed to the meeting, the agenda is building up on the previous conversation that we had. It is basically a follow-up meeting to see the feasibility of some of the ideas we had last discussed," said a member of the NRAI on the condition of anonymity.
The move comes close to a month after the NRAI led the delisting of several restaurants across India from dining-membership driven apps such as Zomato Gold, Dineout and EazyDiner, among others over concerns that complimentary offers doled out by them was hurting business at restaurants.
This then led way for restaurants to also raise concerns over unfair practices followed by online delivery companies, especially at a time when aggregation business has boomed in India threatening the dominance of small restaurant chains.
As a result, the NRAI that represents the interests of thousands of restaurant chains has raised concerns over various issues.
In the last week of August, NRAI wrote to several food delivery companies listing out eight concerns such as steep discounting, forced usage of fleet services, data masking and other clauses laid out by these platforms, urging them to change the way they on-board and remunerate eateries. Representatives of NRAI wrote to top executives at UberEats, Swiggy, Zomato and Foodpanda then.
Then, on August 29, in a marathon meeting the two; the food aggregators, namely Swiggy and Zomato promised to get back to the NRAI with a formal proposal on various issues and suggest changes to their platforms.
Swiggy had then said it had a constructive and collaborative dialogue and have agreed to reconvene on all the points that were discussed. “Our goal remains to enable a win-win for our small, medium and large restaurant partners and the food delivery ecosystem," a Swiggy spokesperson said then.
Zomato too said it had a detailed meeting with NRAI. “We discussed all issues faced by the industry and agreed to work towards solutions sustainable for all participants," Zomato Spokesperson said post the meeting in August.
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