Zomato, the food discovery and ordering platform that runs the Zomato Gold Discount Scheme, has asked the company to tell some of its partner restaurants if they want to quit. The development came a day after hundreds of restaurants in Gurugram, Delhi and Mumbai withdrew from similar schemes offering complimentary meals and drinks.

In an e-mail dated August 15 to its Gold Partner restaurants selected by De-List, Zomato wrote that they had to give 45 days’ notice if they wanted to opt out of the current terms and conditions. A smooth transition for its customers. Members will have to pay a sign-up fee if they want to log back into their Gold Platform.

Zomato Gold has over one million subscribers and 6,500 restaurants as its partners. On August 15, 300 restaurants in Gurugram announced that they would withdraw their reservation and membership-driven dining apps, including EasyDinner (Prime), Zomato Gold, Dineout, NearBook and MagicPin. The move is seen as a sign of growing tension between the restaurant industry and India’s online reservation and discounted membership platform. The move, led by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRI), is largely aimed at ending the reduction through such platforms, which could hurt business, NRI said.

The NRAI said four more aggregators were ready to join the association early next week. “Other aggregators have reached out and are seeking common ground and ready to have a dialogue,” NRI President Rahul Singh said in an interview with Zomato, on the other hand, only sent e-mails to restaurant partners, and the association has not yet heard from the company, An email question to Zomato received no response.

*From Various Sources