Zomato "Gold" Delivery Faces Backlash From Restaurants

On Sept 21, delivery giant Zomato got slammed by the National Restaurant Association of India for the Gold program's recent extent on its delivery platform. NRAI said that this desperate attempt of Zomato is to boost up the decreasing fortune of the programme.

The company recently announced that it would expand the "Gold" program so that current and new members of the programme could use it for home delivery orders. Currently, this program is available in six-teen different cities.

Until recently, the program was only available for eating out at fine-dine restaurants.

NRAI's stance

NRAI said that this is another attempt to change to goalpost of Zomato. Originally, "Gold" is aimed at promoting dining out culture, however, the company now wants to expand it into food deliveries. NRAI has been dissatisfied with Zomato because of the steep discount on the "Gold" program.

NRAI added that now "Gold" is promoting deep discounts on both delivery and dine-in. However, the restaurant partners are those which have to bear the cost.

According to NRAI, it firmly believes that the current form of Zomato Gold is unacceptable.

NRAI said that this move of Zomato would be a disaster for the whole delivery segment business. It encourages all kitchen entrepreneurs and restaurants to avoid Zomato Gold's delivery.

NRAI said to Zomato that the company should offer the right price for the right quality products, instead of focusing on discount gimmicks. They have also started the campaign #ZoGoIsNoGo. Thus they will continue to run the campaign #StayLoggedOut.

Zomato's response

On the other hand, the company said that the food delivery market was at the early stage when they first started the famous "Gold" program back in 2017.

Gaurav Gupta (COO and co-founder of Zomato) has delivered a statement on the matter. He thanks the partnered restaurants for the feedback and the users' support for the Zomato Gold as these conversations will help the company to grow bigger and better.

The mentioned program currently drives 25-30% of the business for the partnered restaurants. More Gold users (about 90%) are trying new restaurants because of this program. Gupta said it makes sense to extend the great program to delivery as the company has always been wanting to extend its Gold program to delivery.