NRAI to Online Food Aggregators: Tweak Features to End Deep Discounts

In a bid to stop "unethical" deep discounting practices of online food aggregators amid nationwide #logout campaign, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on Tuesday told the platforms to realign their offerings to create a restaurant-friendly ecosystem, ending the system of freebies and detox the consumers from discount addiction.

In a meeting with the five top players - Zomato, EazyDiner, Dineout, Magicpin and Nearbuy - the industry body discussed how technology has a key role to play in driving engagement and discovery for retailers versus deep discounting.

"It was decided that all aggregators will rejig their features to detox the consumers from the addiction of deep discounts that has crippled the industry," the association said in a statement.

The meeting came after thousands of restaurants delisted from online food aggregators' platforms across the country. The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) on Monday joined the chorus, calling for a review of the agreement of online food apps with restaurants and threatening nationwide protests.

Anshoo Sharma, Co-Founder & CEO, Magicpin, said in a statement that they had a very productive discussion with the key members of NRAI.

"The NRAI members included President Rahul Singh (Beer Cafe), Priyank Sukhija (BoomBox, Lazeez Affaire, Flying Saucer and more), Vikrant Batra (Cafe Delhi Heights) and Nitin Saluja (Chaayos). We agreed on how technology has a key role to play in driving engagement and discovery for retailers versus deep discounting,' said Sharma.

Magicpin said it works at a base margin of 10 percent and allows partners to top-up anywhere from Rs 2,000 to Rs 20 Lakh as per their marketing needs for the month while delivering guaranteed RoIs to them.

"We are fully supportive of NRAI's cause and are looking forward to working together to create sustainable impact for its members through the use of technology," Sharma added.

According to the FHRAI, restaurants are willing to do business with online food apps but the current policies need to be reconsidered.

Zomato's Founder Deepinder Goyal has also requested restaurant owners to stop the #logout campaign.

Zomato in an earlier email asked its Gold restaurant partners to serve a notice of 45 days if they wish to opt-out.