How many of us are real lazy(let us accept the fact) in going out with our family to order food? Don't we agree that we did this only when we venture out for longer hours - preferably for a movie, groceries shopping or otherwise.
To add to our delight, when we see some steep discounts, we do not tend to think twice before going ahead in placing the order. I am no exception. I must admit that. My intention is not to demean the brands which is involved in this but to create a general awareness on this topic.
Gone are the days, where we, the human beings use to go out during the weekends or on special occasion but all these were restricted to a greater extent. Thanks to technology. It shrunk the world. With programs day in day out on the weekend and during festival, we tend to stay indoors and to add more to this, we also use to get anywhere up to 50% discount on food. I still remember that during last Diwali, I too did avail this opportunity and for a family of 4, I ended up paying less than Rs.100 for a breakfast. Can you beat that?
You might ask, why this sudden enlightenment?
Since I am in Digital Marketing field and also a food reviewer, I have had chance to interact with many hoteliers. One such meet up made me realize as to what they were undergoing, in terms of mere survival. You read it right!! I met Mr Krishnan Subramanian Kolazhy, Founder of Uttar Bhojan. Mr Krishnan had quite his high paying corporate job back in 2015 to pursue his passion of starting a restaurant which provides high quality North Indian Food to the consumers in Chennai.There is a long story behind the creation of this brand which we can discuss on some other post. When I enthusiastically discussed about the food delivery apps, it is then, he spoke about it in great detail and that made me realize as to what the reality actually is.
Pic Credit - Mr Krishnan Subramanian Kolazhy,Founder-Uttar Bhojan
Do you know that whatever the discount you see on the app is not entirely borne by the service provider?
The majority of the discount is forced to be borne by the hotel/restaurant?
Of course, there are few who do this willfully but there are many who are forced to accept the deal. Don't you think it is unfair?
I have also noticed that in order to get their business running and to counter discounts, few restaurants have a differential pricing. It is high when you order it on the app but relatively less(about 20%) when you go out for Dine-In?
He also said that there is a major ongoing dispute on this issue between the food delivery app service providers and the Hotel Association.
I could also see the pain in his eyes when he said that there are 5,000+ restaurants in Chennai alone and each month 200-300 shuts their business and equal number venture into this. He also said with great disappointment that he is burning his own money to keep the business afloat and if this continues, he has no other option but to shut down the business which will be again 1 in few 1000's which gets dissolved but just that "People would tend to lose a restaurant whose main aim is to provide quality food to the consumers"
Yes. We are selfish. We tend to search for the one which gives the maximum discount but at whose cost? Remember, Quality food never comes cheap and let us support small business since they thrive on patrons like us....
P.S. Uttar Bhojan's pricing is the same - be it on App or when you Dine-In. This is not a PAID Post nor I am biased against any brand or service provider but expressed my personal views in reflecting as to what is happening in reality. Data/Questions reproduced as was told to the author.
Difficult to survive in a discount crazy environment. So, the choice is to close or compromise quality. I know my friend Krishnan would not go for the later.
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