Zomato and restaurant association NRAI continue to spar over food aggregator's premium Gold membership

Zomato Gold remains a bone of contention with restaurants and online food aggregator  Zomato. After two days of talks with National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the online food aggregator failed to reach a consensus. What the issue is about Zomato Gold is a premium membership plan that offers free food and drink. During the recent #Logout campaign, restaurants complained about the deep discounting offered through Zomato Gold which was disrupting the industry. After talks with the NRAI, Zomato  said it was modifying the Gold programme. [caption id=“attachment_4080699” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal. Image courtesy - Company.[/caption] Zomato decided to restrict the use of the Gold membership to one unlock per day. It has also capped the number of Gold unlocks per table, restricting it to two. An unlock is an offer that can be availed at an outlet. However, that move did not ‘make significant progress’ in the talks with NRAI. Trade body versus food aggregators National Restaurant Association of India on Monday said no significant progress could be made on Zomato Gold issues in the meeting held with the company. The discussions on eight central issues in the second meeting with key delivery aggregators Zomato and Swiggy were, however, mostly positive, it added. “Follow-up meetings with both Swiggy and Zomato on the eight-core issues were largely positive and talks have progressed well so far,” NRAI President Anurag Katriar said in a statement, according to a PTI report. Both aggregators have presented concrete roadmap and apprised NRAI of the progress made thus far. It also took note that since the desired changes are fairly large and significant, their total resolution may take some time, he added. The association had raised critical issues such as deep discounting, data masking, high and uneven commission charges with the delivery aggregators. “However, no significant progress was made on the subject of Zomato Gold. NRAI remains steadfast in its belief that Zomato Gold in its current form is not acceptable in either dine-in or delivery segment,” Katriar said. The association also took note and appreciated that Zomato has put the contentious Infinity dining programme in abeyance till further notice, he added. Commenting on the logout movement in dining vertical, Katriar said: “NRAI has successfully concluded talks with Dine out, Gourmet Passport, Nearbuy and Magicpin and they are back in business and out of the purview of #Logout”. Talks with Eazydiner is also fairly advanced and we expect an early resolution to that, he added. “NRAI plays an important role in our continued efforts to enable restaurant partners to grow sustainably while benefitting from the latest technology interventions. Our recent discussions on the various projects have been well received and has brought us one step closer to achieving our combined goals,” a Swiggy spokesperson said. Stating that Zomato continues to engage NRAI on all issues faced by the industry, a Zomato Spokesparson said: “We continue to have discussions with NRAI on all issues faced by the industry and are focused on providing solutions sustainable for all participlants”. The restaurants’ trade body met Swiggy and Zomato last week and had constructive talks, barring any significant progress on the Zomato Gold programme. --With PTI inputs