Noida, June 1: A small restaurant owner has publicly announced that they are removing their business from Zomato, one of India’s biggest food delivery platforms. In a strongly worded post on X (formerly Twitter), the owner criticised Zomato and its CEO Deepinder Goyal for practices that they say are hurting small businesses.
The social media user identified as Manish said in the post that he owns Saffroma - Biryani, Kebab, Mughlai which is located in 116, Ground Floor, Jaipuria Plaza, Zone-2 Sector 26, Noida. Manish said in the post that he hasn't received any payouts for the past two months. He also shared the screenshots of the transactions on social media.
“Dear @zomato @deepigoyal, I'm finally pulling my restaurant off your platform. 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 > commissions.”
The restaurant owner also shared screenshots showing that they received zero payouts for the last two months, despite continuing to take orders. They claim that ads were added to their listing without their knowledge or permission and that Zomato failed to communicate properly or resolve the issue.
“This ad was applied without our knowledge and consent. Is this how you support small businesses, Mr. Goyal?”
The post goes on to say that the business has only been operating for five months, but it’s already clear to the owner that this problem is not unique. He said, “My case is just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless stories of closed or failed businesses who relied solely on online platforms for orders.”
Zomato replied to the viral post and said, “We hear you! As mentioned earlier, please share your restaurant ID with us via DM, so that our team can get in touch with you.”
The post has attracted attention online, especially from other small restaurant owners who have faced similar issues with high commissions, poor support and lack of transparency from food delivery platforms.
A user said, "Even I am facing issues whereas I have seen big brands payouts with 0 charges for growth and ads I don’t know how there deal works with Zomato maybe they pay separately."
Another user said, "Thanks for bringing this out, I think the algorithms are about keeping maximum money in the table for Zomato, squeezing the restaurants, dark pricing for customers etc etc. do you have a forum to report this?"
