Guwahati: Restaurant owner in Assam has moved the minister of Himanta Head of Himanta Buswa Sarma, looking for help from ‘developing monopoly’ online delivery partners such as Swiggy and Zomato in the food segment.
The Secretary of the Associating Association of Assam Restaurant (Aara), Manjita Kalita, said the online food delivery platform, which has a PAN-Indian network, demanded a margin of profit of 25-32% while the restaurant looked at huge losses since last year’s pandemic outbreak.
“After providing 25 to 32% benefits for online food delivery platforms, including GST, almost nothing left for the restaurant owner.
When the restaurant becomes very dependent on them, they take full advantage of the situation and does not provide relaxation,” he said.
The Aara delegation on Wednesday met Sarma CM, looking for its intervention to develop software for food delivery through the agency of IT Government, Amtron.
About 300 restaurants in Guwahati are covered by Swiggy and Zomato and the network have developed into rural areas.
“We want the state government to play a liaison role to help in shipping quality food.
We have been looking for the intervention of the minister’s chairman to develop online shipping software to serve existing and new restaurants.
We cannot grow if we have to issue the current profit margin from Swiggy and Zomato, “Kalita said.
The proposed application will also improve the generation of employment in our region, he added.
While the association has demanded low collateral loans for a minimum period of five years to plug in the crisis, it also urged the government to recognize food and drinks as an industry and provide incentives to existing and new players.
Although the level of participants has declined in the state, people still prefer to order food online.
The owner said the business fell to around 40% because the night hours were at night.
“From chicken to oil that can be eaten to cooking gas, the price of skyrocketing.
For small food entrepreneurs to share their profits with a very difficult multinational food aggregator.
The house cutting house managed by the government is also not in a position to meet the demands of the restaurant,” said Deba Kumar Barman , Food Entrepreneurs and Founder President J 14 Chain Restaurants here.
The restaurant owner has begged the government to allow them to operate late at night because this will help ‘improve the country’s socioeconomic conditions’.
They also requested that the mall, cinema room and other basic facilities were allowed to remain open until 2am.
“By doing that, we can encourage new customer segments.
And this will prove safe nightlife in Guwahati,” Read Memorandum.
Aara has also proposed an annual food festival in December along with the State Tourism Department to increase tourism.