India’s largest quick service chain, Domino’s Pizza which operates 1,625 outlets, launched multiple “free rewards offers” on its own app last weekend, across delivery, takeaway and dine-ins.
While Zomato and Swiggy charge commissions of 15-30% on every order, new tech platforms like ThriveNow and Google-backed DotPe levy only 3-5%. These food tech platforms allow restaurants to set up their own digital services.
“We’ve grown 40% this quarter over the previous quarter, enabling restaurants to set up their own direct ordering platform; we expect to see further escalation in demand in the upcoming festive season,” said Dhruv Dewan, cofounder at Hashtag Loyalty, which operates ThriveNow.
Late last year,
, the master franchise for Domino’s Pizza in India, had acquired a 35% stake Hashtag Loyalty.
Thrive charges a 5% commission and is working to increase its scale from 11,300 restaurants at present, Dewan said.
Discover the stories of your interest
Domino’s, McDonald’s, Social, Punjab Grill, deGustibus Hospitality, Street Foods of India, Wow!Momo and Pizza Hut are among the ones offering higher discounts on their own apps.
For large brands, orders from their own apps are averaging anywhere between 10% and 25%, though smaller ones are still relying heavily on the aggregators for scale, executives said.
“Our focus is to increase promotions and give more value through our own delivery platforms to entice customers to transact and reduce dependence on more expensive aggregators,” said Rohit Aggarwal, director at Lite Bite Foods, which operates Punjab Grill, Artful Baker and YouMee. He said close to 20% of the company’s delivery business was now through its own platforms.
Executives said the relationship between restaurants and aggregators involved both a huge benefit and cost.
“There’s the inherent benefit which restaurants reap from the aggregators in terms of scale and last-mile delivery, specially for the mid-sized restaurants which don’t have the budgets to set up their own deliveries. But the restaurants are also dealing with the very steep cost of commissions,” said Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of retail consultancy Third Eyesight.
Some brands that offer direct deliveries are also focusing on the nascent but emerging subscription-based meal services and menu customisation.
“It is extremely important for restaurants to take back some control of their digital landscape, rather than being totally dependent on the aggregators. This will not only save them huge delivery costs but also give them access to more customer data; aggregators have thrived on discounts, which is funded almost entirely by the restaurants,” said Anurag Katriar, chief executive of Indigo Hospitality.
In addition to third-party delivery operators such as Dunzo and Shadowfax, which work either through logistics aggregators or directly with the restaurants, brands are also delivering through their own fleet.
Riyaaz Amlani, chief executive at Impresario Handmade Restaurants, which runs Social, Smoke House Deli and Salt Water Cafe, said: “We are offering the best price on our own platforms and our discounts are in the range of 20-25%.”
For large brands, orders from their own apps are anywhere between 10% and 25%, though smaller ones are still relying heavily on the aggregators for scale, executives said.
In addition to third-party delivery operators such as Dunzo or Shadowfax which work either through logistics aggregators or directly with the restaurants, brands are also delivering through their own fleet. Some that offer direct deliveries said they were also focusing on the nascent but emerging subscription-based meal services and menu customisation.
Mid last year, over a dozen large restaurant chains had collaborated to start a #OrderDirect movement, amid escalation of a long-standing tussle between restaurants and aggregators. The food services chains alleged that aggregators charged steep commissions and masked critical customer data.
According to estimates by the National Restaurant Association of India, the annual food services market in India is of about Rs 4.2 lakh crore and could grow to Rs 7.7 lakh crore by 2025.
