The F&B (food and beverage) industry and local restaurant businesses have been severely impacted amidst the nation wide shutdown to help contain the spread of COVID-19. The subsequent financial crisis that could be triggered by the lockdown has made the future very bleak for restaurants and will soon make it difficult to pay for expenses, rent, salaries and more.
To help them navigate through this turmoil, dining out and restaurant tech platform Dineout, has introduced “Restaurant Vouchers” that customers can purchase now and redeem later when the pandemic subsides.
Restaurant vouchers can be purchased via Dineout available in Rs. 100 denominations which can be redeemed in the next 6 months. Dineout will transfer the funds to the restaurants at no additional charges to ensure that restaurants continue to receive the crucial cash-flow to survive these trying times. Meanwhile those who buy the vouchers will get discounted coupons from eateries in town.
Customers can now buy these vouchers at a discounted price at 20,000+ partner restaurants like Plum by Bent Chair, Whiskey Samba, Lord Of the Drinks, The Wine Company, Sly Granny, Mamagoto, Kobe sizzlers, Chopstick, Gilly's Resto-Bar and more.
Beyond financial support from customers, Dineout has also started an online petition to support National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), requesting the Finance Ministry and Government of India to help restaurants with employee unemployment pay cover, moratorium on upcoming statutory dues, delay in utility bill payments, holiday/temporary stoppage on EMI payments & interest, freezing rental dues and restoration of Input Tax Credit on GST for all restaurants.
Speaking on the initiative, Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO - Dineout said, “Being a restaurant tech solution, we at Dineout have always believed in a restaurant first approach to help our partners with solutions in times of need. While we are encouraging our diners to stay home despite financial implications on us, local restaurant businesses need our support more than ever as they face severe losses. They closed their operations for our safety, it's time for us as a community to support them now so they can continue to serve us tomorrow. Restaurant Vouchers are a great way to keep the momentum of cash flow steady for restaurants without any additional charges from us. We urge food-lovers across the nation to do their bit for the restaurants they love and also sign the petition for the government to hear our voice.”
Restaurant Vouchers can be purchased on the Dineout app or online here.
Besides Dineout, food delivery platform Zomato has also taken several initiatives to help restaurant partners during this difficult period.
As dining out is badly hit, Zomato said it is facilitating working capital loans for its Gold partners (dining out) and has restaurants to send an email to goldloans@zomato.com for any help.
"We will be facilitating loans for food delivery restaurant partners as well considering that thousands of restaurants have been severely hit because of the immobilised workforce due to the lockdown," Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal tweeted.
Here are some initiatives we are taking to help our users, restaurant partners, and delivery partners in these times –
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) March 25, 2020
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Deepinder further announced that Zomato is also starting a fund to cover up for the lost earnings for thousands of the company’s delivery partners and is hoping for government support on this.
Meanwhile, food delivery app Swiggy has announced that in case a delivery partner or their family members (spouse and children) contracts the virus, all medical expenses will be taken care of through the medical insurance provided by Swiggy.
In order to enable better cash flows for restaurant partners during this challenging phase, Swiggy is increasing the frequency of its payouts.