"We are standing at that very critical crossroads today, where we have to take a fundamental call whether we want to allow these aggregators [Swiggy, Zomato] who don't know how to run restaurants, who don't know how to make money, to come and spoil our money-making business. Very simple," Anurag Katriar, Founder and MD of Indigo Hospitality, remarked at a virtual town hall organised by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) on October 7 regarding "Protecting Dine-In Margins." The town hall is a follow-up to an advisory issued by NRAI in September warning restaurants against adopting Zomato Pay and Swiggy Diner/Dineout, which are payment gateways that restaurants can offer to their dine-in customers in addition to existing methods like cash, card, and UPI. These two payment options allow Swiggy and Zomato to earn a commission on dine-in transactions. FREE READ of the day by MediaNama: Click here to sign-up for our free-read of the day newsletter delivered daily before 9 AM in your inbox. Why does this matter: The executives who spoke at the town hall, which included owners of leading restaurant chains, affirmed that they will not allow Zomato and Swiggy into the dine-in segment and strongly urged other restaurants to do the same. If restaurants follow through, it could deal a huge blow to the two food delivery platforms that are looking to diversify away from their food delivery business. "They want to be there as a discovery platform, they are most welcome. But anything beyond that will…
