Frustrated and disappointed with zero payouts, advertisements initiated without approval, and its "mystery service charges," a Noida restaurant owner and her husband have slammed Zomato for its service and publicly quit the food delivery platform. Soni Devi, the 35-year-old owner of a biryani restaurant, Saffroma in Sector 26, criticised the platform for being predatory to small businesses, while her husband, Manish Kumar, hit out at Zomato on X, tagging its CEO Deepinder Goyal.
Kumar's post soon went viral, garnering more than 20 lakh views and several comments from users who claimed to have experienced similar problems with the company.
"Dear Zomato, Deepinder Goyal, I'm finally pulling my restaurant off your platform," Kumar wrote on X. "Congrats! Your mystery service charges, surprise ad placements (without consent), and a POC who ghosts like it's a talent show—truly inspiring. Small outlets deserve better. Quality is greater than commissions."
The 41-year-old, who helps his wife, Soni, manage the eatery, said that despite fulfilling orders, due to advertisements that Zomato applied without their "knowledge and consent," the restaurant made zero money. In a few screenshots shared on X, details from the restaurant's Zomato account showed that although it fulfilled 13 orders placed via Zomato in March, the payout was zero as the eatery paid the company more than Rs 4,000 as service fees and for ads.
Speaking to Moneycontrol, Kumar said that after they started Saffroma in February, they signed up with Zomato to help boost their business. They were assigned a point of contact who persuaded them to sign up for ads to increase the visibility of their eatery and to grow their business. "My wife initially paid about Rs 18,000 for ads based on clicks," Kumar said. "For each click, we were charged Rs 16. It did not matter whether the clicks translated to orders or not; every time anyone clicked on Saffroma, we were charged Rs 16. Once the money ran out, we did not opt for a renewal because we were not happy with the results. The Zomato point of contact insisted that we opt for another ad for better business growth. We refused, but soon a new ad was initiated without our permission."
Kumar said that when he discovered the ad, he reached out to his Zomato point of contact, and only then was the ad discontinued, but the eatery was still charged for it. "The ad was charged on credit. And it was activated without the owner's approval," he said.
'Was asked to delete the X post after it went viral'
After Kumar's post on X went viral, the eatery caught the attention of Zomato's zonal manager, who apparently reached out to Soni and Kumar, promising to look into problems, assured them of growth on the platform, and then requested them to delete the post.
"When the zonal manager reached out to me, my post had around 3,500 views, but after we ended our conversation, which lasted for about 40 minutes, the post had gathered more than 30,000 views. I had initially agreed to delete the post, but when I saw that people commenting on the post were sharing their genuine concerns regarding partnering with Zomato, I realised this matter was bigger than just my wife's restaurant," Kumar said.
The public reaction also convinced Soni that they needed to retain the post. "I asked my husband not to delete the post. So many small business owners have been sharing about their problems with Zomato, and not all of them get acknowledged. If Kumar's post is helping to amplify their concerns, then we should not take it down," Soni told Moneycontrol. The couple added that they have been receiving calls and visits from Zomato representatives since they retained the post.
"The zonal manager visited us on Monday and urged us to share an update on X, that our issues have been resolved. He didn't ask us to do it immediately, but he offered us a flat service charge and requested us to try out their services for about a year to grow our business before sharing the update," Kumar said, adding that he refused to comply and asked the company to share an official response to his post instead. "They refused to do so, and we decided to quit the platform."
Currently, the eatery has severed its ties with Zomato but continues to be available on Swiggy. "We might take Saffroma off all food delivery platforms and work with independent delivery services," Kumar added.
Zomato: 'We work extra hard to make it easier for smaller restaurants to grow with us'
Responding to the incident, Zomato told Moneycontrol that all their marketing collaborations, such as ads, promotions, and discounts, etc., as well as commercials, are mutually discussed with their restaurant partners before being switched on, switched off or modified. "Our multi-factor authentication system ensures that partners retain full control and give explicit consent, which is registered before any changes go live," a company representative said. "We also maintain robust escalation mechanisms, allowing partners to raise concerns and receive prompt, satisfactory resolutions through the Restaurant Partner APP as well as centralised helpline numbers."
"We continue to see restaurants having confidence in our partnership and are taking a proactive step to improve and enhance our interactions and processes. For our smaller restaurant partners, we work extra hard to make it easier for them to grow with us. There are always opportunities to improve, and we are committed to working on them, on time," the Zomato representative added.
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