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Ater restaurants came out strongly in opposition to Zomato’s new food quality policy that they said could lead to their ban on the aggregator platform based on customer complaints, the food delivery major has pushed its implementation by a fortnight to May 3.
Zomato has also invited feedback from restaurants on the framework of the policy by April 22 which was earlier slated to come into effect on April 18. The company said that cases relevant to this framework are rare (0.001 per cent). “However, these rare issues, if not addressed, can hurt customer trust and reputation of restaurant establishments in the long term,” it added.
The company said it will work closely with its restaurant partners to establish the genuineness of any complaint received. Post that, only in case of an instance where suitable resolution is not offered within a reasonable time, the restaurant may temporarily be disabled from the platform.
“The disablement will be in consultation with the restaurant management and will only be applicable till necessary remedial actions are undertaken and verified through a FSSAI approved hygiene and safety auditor,” the company said in an email to restaurant partners on Friday that Business Standard has reviewed.
Earlier this week, Zomato sent an email to restaurant partners saying that severe food quality complaints might lead to a temporary disablement of a restaurant on its platform upon its investigation. The disablement will continue till a restaurant conducts a third-party inspection that is FSSAI-approved. The entire cost of the audit would be borne by the restaurant.
Raising the industry’s concerns, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) president Kabir Suri had a conversation with Zomato co-founder Mohit Gupta, and the two parties will meet next week to resolve the issue amicably.
NRAI is also drafting a letter to Zomato, highlighting its concerns about the policy that is slated to come into effect on April 18.
While the intent of the policy is good, the way Zomato is trying to implement it is a matter of concern. It could turn out to be a draconian move for budget restaurants and small cloud kitchens on the platform will give their life, blood and sweat to their business,” said Pranav Rungta, head of the Mumbai chapter of National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI).
“How will Zomato really ascertain if the complaint is genuine through a customer support executive sitting in a call centre and looking at a photo of the food shared by the consumer?”, he asked.
In 2018, food aggregators Zomato and Swiggy had delisted more than 10,000 restaurants after FSSAI observed that more than 30-40 per cent of food businesses listed on the online platforms do not possess a valid licence. In the aftermath, they had also come out with programmes that required restaurants to get a list of hygiene and standards audits done by third-party firms on the basis of which they were rated on the platform.
“The restaurants opposed those programmes as we had to shell out a lot of money for those ratings. The aggregators were ultimately forced to roll those plans back,” NRAI’s Rungta said.
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