Customer compares difference in Zomato food bill with offline order; sparks debate

New Delhi: The convenience of getting food from our favourite restaurants delivered to our doorstep is something we all have welcomed with open arms. What makes the experience blissful is that we can now order any food of our liking from any restaurant of our choice at the click of a button.

But sometimes this convenience comes at a price.

Now, a Zomoto user has drawn attention on social media by pointing out the astounding difference in bill amount when the same food is ordered offline and online.

In a LinkedIn post on July 4, a user named Rahul Kabra shared a photo showing that his order, consisting of Veg black pepper sauce, vegetable fried rice, and mushroom momo, which on Zomato cost him Rs 689 could have been purchased for Rs 512 offline.

His post went viral, sparking a debate on whether or not the surge is justified. Kabra posted images of his food order bills, comparing the prices of the same dishes at the restaurant and on Zomato.

"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 order at INR 178 = (690-512)/512," Kabra wrote in his post.

He also highlighted that people will stop ordering from Zomato or switch to other apps after they become aware of the high costs of their food delivery.

Read the post here:

The post has gone viral and has already garnered over 11,000 reactions and 1,700 comments.

However, the food delivery app has issued a clarification saying that the restaurant partners set the price of dishes.

Replying to Kabra's post, Zomato wrote, "Zomato being an intermediary platform between a customer and a restaurant, does not have any control over the 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."