Mumbai: NRAI bootcamp to help restaurants become less dependent on food delivery apps

Restaurants and food aggregators across the city have had a rocky relationship since the year 2019 when the NRAI spearheaded a logout movement against deep discounts offered by these online delivery platforms Two years later the National Restaurant Association of India NRAI will be educating restaurateurs on how to become less dependent on the aggregators and rebuild direct connection with their customersMagazine Street Kitchenrsquos delivery executive at Gateway of India File PicShadab KhanThe aggregatorsrsquo basic structure allows it to keep a lionrsquos share of the restaurant delivery revenue for its services including delivery discovery and tech support After the Covid19 hit the country the business model changed majorly with restaurants shifting from dineins to delivery to keep their business afloat and pay staffAt the NRAIrsquos monthly online forum Town Hall yesterday the session titled lsquoDelivering Profits OrderDirectrsquo delved into ways to mitigate the challenges in improving direct orders from customers The NRAI will hold the online bootcamp from May 11 to 13 covering various aspects including Digital MarketinglsquoDependency very high nowrsquoAnurag Katriar NRAI president and executive business director of deGustibus Hospitality said ldquoToday we have a very high dependency on aggregators for our home delivery business While we are not saying we should do away with aggregator apps as they bring us substantial revenue it is time to create an alternate source that doesnrsquot work on codependencyrdquo With dinein closed home delivery and takeaways have become the main source of income for restaurants In a bid to prevent giving up over 40 per cent cuts to aggregators on every order Riyaaz Amlani mdash CEO amp MD of Impresario Handmade Restaurants mdash called his session lsquoBack to the FuturersquoldquoFive years ago there were no aggregators and we were directly communicating with our guests That is why our industry is called the hospitality industry Our guests came to us directly to dinein and for home delivery and we served them with a smile There is no better time than this to go back to building our own customer base and serving them directly once again In the past few years wersquove gotten complacent and lazy when it comes to delivering an order to the customer at home allowing aggregators to keep our database from us Today we donrsquot know who we are serving Data masking is an evil that needs fixingrdquo said Amlani ldquoIt is not okay for a restaurant to not know who their customer isrdquoQuality controlOne example of a restaurateur having successfully managed to create an orderdirect platform along with still being on aggregator platforms is Gauri Devidayal Partner Food Matters ldquoThere are three important aspects that motivated us to set up our direct ordering platform quality control and profit Quality in terms of experience our guests have in the way the food is delivered Knowing what our customer preferences are and being able to deliver that day after day isnrsquot possible if you donrsquot know who you are servingrdquo said Devidayal admitting that this was not going to be an easy process after all aggregators have had years of a head start on thisRahul Singh NRAI trustee and Beer Cafeacute founder amp CEO moderated a panel on the road ahead with Aseem Grover of Delhirsquos popular The Big Chill Cafeacute chef Manu Chandra Pratik Pota of Jubilant Food Works and Saransh Goila of Goila Butter and Yash Bhanage of The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro ldquoThe aggregators need to be more businessfriendly one canrsquot deny the role they have played in creating a robust distribution channel and driving up volumes for the restaurants We therefore will continue to coexist in the typical lovehate relationship Tech after all has to be an enabler and not a distorterrdquo Singh summed up