Zomato Gold Still a Bone of Contention, NRAI Says

As the ongoing tussle between the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and online food aggregators as well as delivery platforms enters a settlement stage, Zomato Gold is still proving to be a bone of contention, a top NRAI executive said on Monday.

The restaurants' trade body met Swiggy and Zomato last week and had constructive talks, barring any significant progress on the Zomato Gold programme.

"The NRAI remains steadfast in its belief that Zomato Gold in its current form is not acceptable in either dine-in or delivery segment.

"We, however, also took note that Zomato has put the contentious 'Infinity' dining programme in abeyance till further notice. This move was appreciated by the NRAI," Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI, said in a statement.

A Zomato spokesperson said that it continues to have discussions with the NRAI on all issues faced by the industry and "is focused on providing solutions sustainable for all participants".

On the #Logout campaign, Katriar said: "The NRAI has successfully concluded talks with Dineout, 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".

The restaurant's trade body held its second meeting with both the key delivery aggregators, Swiggy and Zomato on September 13.

These were follow-up meetings after the NRAI flagged eight critical issues pertaining to the online delivery space which are crippling this vertical of the food service industry.

"The follow-up meetings on the eight core issues were largely positive and talks have progressed well so far. Both aggregators have presented concrete roadmap and apprised the NRAI core team of the progress made thus far," informed Katriar.

The association said since the desired changes are fairly large and significant, their total resolution may take some time.

The newly-appointed NRAI managing committee is slated to meet this week in Mumbai to deliberate upon the progress made and subsequently decide the next course of action.

A Swiggy spokesperson said that it is committed to empowering its users with access to the greatest choice of restaurants and cuisines.

"Our recent discussions on the various projects have been well received and has brought us one step closer to achieving our combined goals," the spokesperson added.