Zomato takes on NRAI president Rahul Singh, says he is offering discounts like aggregators

Amid an escalating face-off between restaurants and aggregators, online food ordering platform Zomato on Thursday took a dig a restaurant association head Rahul Singh saying he was offering discounts at his own The Beer Cafe chain of outlets, proving that he was not against such policies New Delhi: Amid an escalating face-off between restaurants and aggregators, online food ordering platform Zomato on Thursday took a dig a restaurant association head Rahul Singh saying he was offering discounts at his own The Beer Cafe chain of outlets, proving that he was not against such policies. Singh, who heads the National Restaurant Association of India, hit back, saying “brokers cannot enjoy the same right as owners!” In a series of tweets, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal said: “I welcome the NRAI president, Rahul Singh embracing the Gold standard at his own restaurants. “This logout campaign as it seems now is driven by Rahul Singh, along with the participation of a few large restaurant owners, to use the NRAI platform to sabotage aggregators and benefit themselves.” Claiming that aggregator platforms were being “painted as bullies”, Goyal said Zomato will stand by the changes made to its own ‘Gold’ programme as they are in the supreme interest of its restaurant partners and members. “On a democratised platform like Zomato, large restaurant owners have to compete with independent restaurants on a hyperlocal basis, and are not able to leverage their large presence to pull more distribution/profits,” Goyal said.