Zomato Rolls Out Discount Programme Zomato Pay For Dining Out Amid Tussle With NRAI

Amid the ongoing tug of war between the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and foodtech giants Zomato and Swiggy over their dining-out programmes, Zomato has rolled out its latest and the third iteration of its dining-out feature Zomato Pay in a few Indian cities.

While Zomato started promoting Zomato Pay programme in July and it was also piloted in Hyderabad earlier this year, the feature has now been made available in cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, reported the Economic Times.

Zomato customers can now make payments at its partner restaurants using the Zomato Pay feature on the app and avail various discounts and cashback offers. The new programme also makes it easier for partner restaurants to promote themselves. Through a feature called ‘Vibe Check’, the Zomato Pay programme allows eateries to post short video stories to help generate more traction.

Zomato Pay comes as the latest iteration of the foodtech giant’s prior programme Zomato Gold, which was later rebranded as Zomato Pro and had a premium iteration Zomato Pro Plus. Zomato stopped accepting new subscriptions and renewals for both Zomato Pro and Zomato Plus programmes earlier this year.

It is pertinent to note that Zomato is already facing CCI probes for deep discounting and predatory pricing through its loyalty programmes. In September this year, the NRAI urged partner restaurants of Zomato and Swiggy to make an “informed decision” on Zomato Pay and Swiggy Diner as the offerings could “adversely impact” the overall restaurant industry in the long run.

In fact, the NRAI, which has over 5,00,000 member restaurants across the country, also urged its members to log out of Swiggy’s Dineout app last month. Swiggy entered the dine-out feature space after acquiring Times Internet’s dining and online restaurant table booking service platform Dineout in May.

During a townhall with various popular restaurant owners last month, Anurag Katriar, founder of Indigo Hospitality Private Ltd and NRAI trustee, said, “We were successful with our campaign against Zomato Gold which forced the food aggregator to stop its Gold programme. A similar strategy is in the works by both Swiggy and Zomato through Dineout app and Zomato Pay gateway which will crush our dine-in business.”

However, both the platforms have been aggressive about new loyalty programmes for both food delivery and dine-out segments.

During the earnings call for the June quarter results, Zomato said that while loyalty programmes remained one of its strong value propositions, the startup was focusing more on increasing customer frequency.

“…we will have to look beyond these loyalty programmes and look at introducing newer use cases, which perhaps leads to a lot of the current offline spend on restaurant food moving on to our platform,” Zomato CFO Akshant Goyal said during the call.

Zomato’s food delivery business achieved break-even at an adjusted EBITDA level in the first quarter of FY23, while its consolidated loss narrowed to INR 186 Cr from INR 360 Cr in Q1 FY22. It is now also aiming to achieve breakeven at adjusted EBITDA for the overall business between Q4 FY23 and Q2 FY24.

Besides Zomato Pay, Zomato recently launched its intercity food delivery programme which allows its users to place food orders with popular restaurants across different states. The option is currently available in cities including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.