Bengaluru: Bengalureans might soon be able to book food deliveries directly from local hotels, challenging the dominance of Swiggy and Zomato in the food delivery market.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association (BBHA), which announced its intention to join the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform last April, has begun trial runs for this new delivery model by partnering with the seller-side platform GrowthFalcons.
About 10 hotels are currently assessing the system to identify potential issues, as there will be no dedicated delivery executives. Instead, GrowthFalcons will coordinate with delivery partners like Porter and Dunzo to ensure smooth operations.
"We are conducting trial runs to finalise crucial aspects such as the assignment of delivery executives and grievance redressal. We are also suggesting process improvements to our partners," said Arun Adiga, owner of Vidyarthi Bhavan, one of the participating hotels.
Adiga noted that this move could significantly reduce commission rates, which would be reflected in lower food prices. "Currently, delivery app rates are 20% to 30% higher than dine-in rates due to high commission fees. If successful, we aim to reduce this difference to around 10% once we join the ONDC platform," he said.
GrowthFalcons' partnerships with companies like Ola could allow customers to use the Ola app to order from BBHA hotels once they are onboarded.
BBHA plans to launch the service within the next 10 days and aims to onboard all 3,000 member hotels. "We are working closely with our partners and are optimistic about an early launch within the next 10 days," said PC Rao, President of BBHA.
Citizens concerned over grievance redressal, delivery time
City residents have hailed the decision by hotels to have their own food ordering apps to directly deliver food at their doorsteps.
Though directly delivering food by the hotels themselves would slash prices between 20% and 30%, citizens are concerned about the ability to address grievances.
“Now, we can directly contact the Swiggy or Zomato helpdesk and claim a refund if the food is not of good quality. They are bound to pay back since they facilitate the transaction. I am not sure how this will work once the hotels are directly on the platform. My worry is that they might deny having quality issues,” said Sushmitha B, a techie and a frequent food app user.
Another user was unsure about the delivery timing.
“They do not have dedicated delivery executives like Swiggy or Zomato. Since food items must be delivered early, I am unsure if they would find delivery executives quickly like other applications,” said Rakesh S, a Kengeri resident.