Restaurants to develop digital platforms to reach out to customers directly

PTI, May 8, 2020, 6:10 PM IST

New Delhi: The restaurant industry is coming together to develop and identify alternative digital platforms that will level the playing field between restaurants and food delivery platforms, industry body NRAI said.

Expressing the sentiments of the industry, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) said the ‘logout’ movement cemented the belief that the industry needed to take back control.

“Aggregators have become digital landlords. While they came in to solve a genuine problem, their one-sided policies are destroying the business, especially small restaurants. The industry is working together to create an alternative technology solution to reorient and sustain their businesses in the post-COVID-19 world,” NRAI Managing Committee Member Thomas Fenn said in a statement.

The focus for the NRAI is on easy reconciliation, transparent pricing, cheaper delivery and protection of customer data. The solution will be driven by customer loyalty, omni channel online sales, integrated payment gateways and digitised delivery logistics, he added.

Social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are also being explored to leverage to reach out to customers, Fenn said.

In similar vein, NRAI President Anurag Katriar said, “Members of NRAI collectively own and operate some of the most popular restaurants and bars across the country. We feel that we have an ability to create the most comprehensive and attractive loyalty programme with some of the best names in the business coming together on a single loyalty program across the nation”.

NRAI reckons that there cannot be a better programme than this in the restaurant trade. Once again, this will be by the industry and for the industry, he added.

“We have tied up with one of the largest player in this sphere and have already drawn out our blueprint and work is going on at a good pace. We will be in a position to launch this in a few months,” Katriar said.

The current efforts of NRAI are simply aimed at creating more viable alternatives for its members and not aimed at being rivals to other aggregators or their current programmes, he added.