To avoid a complete delisting on Independence Day, the BHRA has outlined a firm set of demands
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Restaurants and hotel operators across Bengaluru have issued a 15-day ultimatum to leading food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato, threatening a city-wide blackout starting August 15.The dispute led by the Bengaluru Hotel and Restaurant Association (BHRA) reflects years of escalating friction between traditional dining establishments and food tech aggregators. Restaurant owners argue that while operating costs like rent, staff wages, and raw materials continue to surge, arbitrary platform practices have severely eroded their profit margins.The pushback centres on several long-standing financial grievances. Restaurant associations allege that platforms frequently auto-apply steep promotional discounts and levy ad campaign charges without explicit, written consent from restaurant owners. Furthermore, current platform policies automatically deduct money from restaurant payouts immediately after a customer files a complaint, leaving no room for verification. Establishments are also forced to absorb the entire loss when orders are cancelled after food has already been prepared in the kitchen.To avoid a complete delisting on Independence Day, the BHRA has outlined a firm set of demands. These include an absolute freeze on unauthorised promotional deductions, transparent, itemised monthly settlement statements, dedicated relationship managers for dispute resolution, and fair policies regarding order cancellations and customer complaints.BHRA President PC Rao noted that while restaurant owners value their reach on online platforms, the current financial model has become unsustainable for neither hoteliers nor end consumers. Unless Swiggy and Zomato provide formal, written assurances to address these systemic issues, thousands of popular Bengaluru eateries plan to turn off their aggregator terminals en masse.Published on July 29, 2026
