More restaurant associations join 'Logout' movement

The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), one of the biggest body of the hotel industry in India that comprises over 27,000 members, has extended its support to the 'Logout' movement initiated by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI). Along with FHRAI, several other associations such as Thane Hotel Association, Pune Restaurants and Hotel Association (PRAHA), Vadodara Food Entrepreneurs (VFE) have also joined the movement.

While it started as a fight against deep discounts offered by online aggregators, it has been reduced to restaurants versus Zomato fight. Rather than rolling back its Gold programme for diners, Zomato has introduced it in delivery as well leading to this flare-up. Anurag Katriar, president of NRAI, says reasons for two national bodies to come together is to not let Zomato dictate the terms of operation. He said while other aggregators have agreed to renegotiate and come back with new terms of operation, Zomato has not relented.

"We want to keep the reigns of our business in our hands. Zomato is a marketplace that purely connects buyers and sellers online. It cannot decide discounts on our behalf," Katriar said.

"Our group will not hesitate in embarking on a nationwide agitation and resistance against Zomato and others if its demands are not met within a stipulated timeframe," said Pradeep Shetty, joint honorary secretary, FHRAI.

Reacting to these developments, Zomato stated that they have had multiple meetings with restaurant bodies trying to understand their concerns but termed recent developments as a propaganda by the restaurant bodies. "All of these are baseless allegations, and we would only classify them as false propaganda," company spokesperson said.

Source:- https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/more-restaurant-associations-join-logout-movement/71627502