In a recent post on Instagram, House of Salat's, a restaurant in Odisha, has sparked a conversation around food delivery platforms. The restaurant has called out Zomato for what it claims is an unfair system, where restaurants take the hit for mistakes made by the delivery partners after the food leaves their kitchen. The post highlighted how negative reviews and ratings on delivery platforms can affect the visibility and business of restaurants.
Odisha-Based Restaurant Questions Zomato On Delivery Errors
The Cuttack-based restaurant took to Instagram with a strongly worded post, claiming it was penalised for an order mix-up caused by a delivery partner. According to them, the food was prepared correctly, double-checked, and handed over without any issues. But somewhere between pickup and delivery, things went wrong.
Ultimately, a dissatisfied customer put in a complaint, which led to a drop in the restaurant's ratings. In its post, the restaurant wrote, “We prepared, checked, and handed over the correct order. Your delivery partner, juggling multiple pickups, delivered the wrong one. Yet we get the complaint, the blame, and the rating drop.”
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The post highlighted that the bigger frustration wasn't just the mistake but the lack of control after the order left their hands. The restaurant pointed out that it had no way to contact the customer, explain the situation, or fix the issue.
Questioning the fairness of the mechanism, they wrote, “Why is there no accountability for delivery partners? Why are restaurants penalised after the order leaves our kitchen?” Tagging Zomato and its CEO Deepinder Goyal, the restaurant called it a “pattern”, not a one-off incident.
The post highlighted how these ratings directly affect a restaurant's survival on delivery platforms. When the ratings drop, so does their visibility on the app. It leads to fewer orders and revenue losses. As the restaurant put it, “Small businesses like ours don't just lose stars, we lose visibility, orders, and real revenue.”
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Internet Users Resonated With The Post
The post quickly struck a chord online, with many users sharing similar experiences.
One user commented, “This is exactly what happened to us today, where the rider forgot to deliver one of the items, resulting in us getting a bad rating.” Another pointed out that this isn't new, saying, “You've posted what most of the cafes and restaurants have been willing to say for a long time.” Some users even criticised how deliveries are handled and said, “Zomato has been doing this very frequently now, clubbing multiple orders in each ride, delaying food delivery for all customers and also increasing risk of mix-up."
This incident has led to a debate about who is responsible when something goes wrong in a delivery ecosystem.
NDTV has reached out to Zomato for a response, and the story is expected to be updated once the company comments.