Dineout Integrates With Swiggy App, Service Extended To 24 Cities

Expanding its dining-out service to all users, foodtech major Swiggy has integrated the Dineout offering on its food delivery app.

According to the food delivery startup, the service is now available at more than 18,000 restaurants across 24 cities. Prior to this, the offering was only available to the subscribers of the Swiggy One membership initiative.

“With this integration, Dineout’s offering will be more accessible than ever before and available to a larger Swiggy user base across the 24 cities. We are certain that our combined efforts will help create a seamless experience for all Swiggy users and significant savings on their dining-out expenses,” Dineout’s cofounder Ankit Mehrotra said.

In a statement, the foodtech decacorn said that the service is currently available across 24 cities, including metro cities such as Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad, among others.

Founded in 2012 by Ankit Mehrotra, Vivek Kapoor, Nikhil Bakshi and Sahil Jain, Dineout is a table booking platform that allows diners to access discounts and deals while eating out. 

The startup was acquired by foodtech major Swiggy in May last year in a $200 Mn deal from its previous owner Times Internet. After the deal, the founder joined Swiggy and continued to lead the operations of Dineout as an independent entity.

Mired In Controversy

The full-blown fracas erupted in October last year after the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) urged its members to log out of the Dineout app, citing foodtech giant eating into the margins of outlets and deep-discounting issues. 

Subsequently, by the end of October 2022, NRAI claimed that more than 400 brands and 900 dining outlets across 13 cities sent delisting notices to Swiggy.

With commissions in excess of 15%, the dine out market is a lucrative one. From deploying its own cashless payment systems to partnering with restaurants to offer discounts, the space offers plenty of space for Swiggy to grow. But, restaurants fear that such foodtech players would eat into their margins. 

With a cumulative market share of 90-95%, the Indian food delivery space operates as a complete duopoly with Zomato and Swiggy setting terms and commissions for restaurants listed on their platforms. This has irked restaurateurs, who fear that they might see a heavy commission regime in the dine out business, similar to the online food delivery space.

Swiggy has ramped up its offerings at a time when it is facing tough competition from Zomato. A recent report has highlighted that Swiggy is fast losing market share to Zomato despite heavy discounts. 

Meanwhile, the Bengaluru-based company has failed to curb its losses, which more than doubled to INR 3,628.9 Cr in FY22.

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