-B Swaminathan (publisher@chefbharath.com)
Buzz around the restaurants-owners’ WhatsApp group is the bizarre on many partners of delivery-app Swiggy started expressing their anguish over leading online food -ordering application Swiggy. The recent voice recordings that go around the whatsapp groups are the much-discussed topic. The audio call is what that happens between a restaurant owner shares his pain points with the food-ordering app.
Krishnan spoke to ChefBharath.com with respect to the audio recording. “Besides the lockdown and pandemic, we hoteliers are going through unbearable in terms of managing people and business. We are tired of telling our problems to Swiggy who is not having a patient ear for us”, he says telling that Swiggy should immediately focus on three things- transparency, refunds, and their ‘food ready’ option in the app. ”
Expressing his anguish over the issue, Krishnan says restaurant owners are not aware of what went wrong when an order gets negative feedback. “We are open to suggestions and we believe that is the only way for us to grow in the hospitality sector. For example, in a North Indian Thali, which has a plenitude of various items, from soup to sweet, Swiggy’s bling insights that simply tell the food is not good will be of no use as a hotelier”, he says further adding the charges of refunds are so high. According to Krishnan, Swiggy goes on charging INR 100 refunds in an INR 150 meal just for missing one sweet.
Food-Ready option:
Another hotel owner, who, on a condition of anonymity, says the ‘Food-ready’ option that a restaurant partner needs to select one the food is ready has serious functional problems. “I am given 10 minutes to click the ‘food-ready’ button for packing food which takes only 5 minutes And vice-versa in some items and key issues in. When we select it, we get a call from Swiggy asking why we clock in early”, he says further adding that the compliance is so confused we have to maintain 80% to get our commission and despite maintaining the same, they end up losing commission which is an actual loss for them.
Nitesh Surana of UNV Foods who owns Adayar Flower Drum restaurant says more than 40% of the hotel owners shut down permanently because of the COVID. He says that the delivery executives need more grooming as most of them approach the hotel partners not in a proper manner. “My pain points with Swiggy are there for more than 3 months. Even I have not received the payment from Swiggy for the past 17 orders.”, he says and requested Swiggy to update their process in tune with the current COVID situation.
Some other hoteliers also feel that many Swiggy drivers arrive late and avoid temperature checks and are in a rush to pick-up the orders.
Swiggy’s corporate communications team refused to respond for the queries.
