A Jaipur trade body representing around 60 prominent sweet shops and restaurants has announced an indefinite Zomato boycott, alleging high commissions, discount pressure and a lack of transparency.
Why the shops pulled the plug
Shri Halwai Samiti says Zomato’s commercial terms have become financially difficult for many member businesses. Shop owners cited commissions, deductions, promotional schemes and pressure to offer discounts among their major complaints.
LMB proprietor Ajay Agarwal told The Indian Express that commission levels that were once zero in the platform’s early years can now range from around 10–12% up to 25% in some cases. Another trade representative argued that commission rates can vary even more between businesses.
How big is the boycott
The Samiti says it includes about 60 well-known sweet shops and restaurants in Jaipur. The participating businesses include long-established names in the city’s sweets and food trade.
Agarwal estimated that the stores collectively did around ₹50 lakh of daily business through Zomato alone. That figure helps explain why the dispute matters to both sides: online delivery is no longer a side channel for many traditional businesses; it is a meaningful part of sales.
The fight is about more than commission
The shop owners’ complaints include discounts they say are run without adequate consultation, advertising pressure, deductions and settlement transparency. The businesses have asked for rationalised commission structures suited to sweets and related categories, where margins and price competition can differ from other restaurant formats.
The national Federation of Sweets and Namkeen Manufacturers has also sought a meeting with Zomato, saying similar commercial concerns are being discussed among members beyond Jaipur.
What Zomato has said so far
The Indian Express reported that Zomato sought time to respond to its questionnaire. That means the allegations in the boycott announcement represent the businesses’ position and should not be treated as independently established findings against the platform.
The next development to watch is whether Zomato and the trade bodies return to negotiations. If the boycott continues, Jaipur could become a useful test of how much bargaining power established local businesses have against major food-delivery platforms.
Source: The Indian Express. Bilibilii has independently rewritten and contextualised the reported facts.
Featured image: Bilibilii editorial graphic. It is illustrative and should not be treated as documentary evidence of the event.
