Over 900 restaurants exit Swiggy Dineout; platform denies exodus

After the pandemic and rising food inflation, the cashbacks being offered by restaurant aggregators are the latest problem for restaurants. While big discounts on online aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato are beneficial for customers, eateries are feeling the heat. According to a Mint report, over 900 outlets across brands have delisted themselves from the Dineout, Swiggy’s table-booking platform. These include Wow! Momo, Mamagoto-parent Azure Hospitality, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd-owned Social, The Beer Cafe and Smoke House Deli. Many outlets stated that they have not enlisted on Zomato’s dine-out program Zomato Pay either. The restaurants have cited the heavy discounts and cashbacks on in-restaurant dining being offered by Dineout as the reason behind their exit.According to reports, most of the restaurants who opted out of Dineout are members of the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). The move comes after a month after NRAI cautioned its members against the programmes being offered on Swiggy and Zomato.Riyaaz Amlani, CEO of L Catterton Asia-backed Impresario, told Mint about the impact of these promotions. “We do not understand what problem the company is looking to solve anymore. There must be a purpose for giving discounts. Customers are aware of our restaurants anyway and enjoy the dining out experience. Once they have finished, they start looking for deals on these platforms to get discounts," he said.However, some companies are happy with the programme. The marketing manager of a hotel chain said that his organisation gets almost 150 covers a month by using the table booking app at a nominal fee.Swiggy’s responseSwiggy has denied reports of a mass exodus. According to an IANS report, a spokesperson for the company said, "Thousands of partners continue to join us each month and list on Swiggy Dineout and only a handful of restaurant partners have expressed their desire to delist from the platform. We continue to engage with restaurant partners and NRAI representatives to revisit their choices."The spokesperson also stated that Swiggy works with more than 15,000 restaurant partners in over 20 cities and is continuously engaged in making the partnership “valuable” for all stakeholders.Swiggy acquired Dineout from Times Internet in May this year. The deal was estimated to be around $150 million.Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.