Zomato Replies To Online vs Offline Food Prices Debate, Says 'App Doesn't Decide Rates'

Food delivery firm Zomato recently responded to the buzz regarding the difference in the bills of food ordered from its platform and bought offline. A LinkedIn user, named Rahul Kabra, had earlier this week shared a screenshot of the food bills showing a huge difference in prices of the same items he ordered from Zomato and bought from the restaurant. Soon after, Kabra's post went viral on the internet and sparked a debate regarding the high prices of food items on online platforms.

Now, in its response, Zomato said that it doesn't have any control over the prices offered by the restaurants on its platform. "Hi Rahul, Zomato being an intermediary platform between a customer and a restaurant, does not have any control over prices implemented by the restaurant partners on our platform. That said, we have conveyed your feedback to the restaurant partner and have requested them to look into this", Zomato commented.

The clarification comes after Rahul posted the images of his food order bills, comparing the prices of the same dishes at the restaurant and on Zomato. The app cost him Rs 689 while the same was bought for Rs 512 offline.

"I am doing an apple to apple comparison to online vs offline order. Here is what I noticed - Cost for offline order - INR 512. Cost for Zomato order - INR 690 (after applied discount of INR 75). Cost escalation 34.76 per cent per order at INR 178 = (690-512)/512," Rahul wrote in his post.

He also mentioned that people will eventually get to know about the high price charged by Zomato and will switch to some other app. "Over time, people will come to know of the high cost they are paying for Zomato delivery and eventually skip ordering from Zomato or move to some other substitute," he wrote.

Kabra's post has over 11,000 reactions and nearly 1,900 comments on LinkedIn. However, many netizens also explained that the charges are decided by the restaurants and it totally depends on the distance of the restaurant, the customer is ordering from. A user wrote, "All in all the difference is 178 INR. It depends from where you are ordering at what distance it is from the delivery location. It's actually the value you are paying for comfort and ease."