Karachi:All Pakistan Restaurant Association (APRA) on Saturday expressed grave concern over the monopoly of food delivery companies, saying that Food Panda had made it a routine to blackmail the restaurants for increasing the commission.
In a statement, APRA requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate notice of this monopoly and formulate a policy at the government level for food delivery companies so that any kind of monopoly in this sector could be ended.
The association drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the important issue facing the restaurant industry, saying that the restaurant industry operates at a profit of 10 to 12 pc only and Food Panda is paid 18pc delivery commission. Despite this, Food Panda is increasing the pressure on restaurants to increase their commissions and have threatened if the delivery commission of 25% to 30% was not done, they will stop the delivery of food.
“Food delivery companies do not comply with any agreement made with restaurants and they force to the restaurants to fire their food riders so that only food companies’ riders can give the food delivery,” APRA opined.
In addition, food delivery companies take customer’s data and then transfer the order to their favorite restaurants, which has made restaurant owners fed up and now they are thinking to don’t work with these companies like Food Panda.
APRA requested Khan to issue directives for formulating policy for food delivery companies under which they could be bound by rules and regulations; otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to work for the restaurant industry, which was already facing financial crunch due to COVID-19 pandemic.