Around 120 Kolkata restaurants, supported by the NRAI, are exploring the 'Ownly' delivery platform to avoid high commission fees. This move seeks to align online menu prices with dine-in rates, creating a direct challenge to established delivery giants like Swiggy and Zomato in the local market.
Kolkata’s restaurant sector is looking for new ways to manage the rising costs of digital food delivery. Nearly 120 local restaurant operators, working alongside the National Restaurant Association of India, have initiated discussions to join 'Ownly,' a delivery platform backed by the ride-hailing company Rapido. This move reflects a broader industry push to find alternatives to the high-commission fee structures used by major market leaders.
Currently, established delivery aggregators often charge commissions ranging from 15% to 30% per order. For many independent restaurants, these fees significantly impact profit margins. To cover these costs, eateries are often forced to inflate prices on their digital menus, making them higher than what customers pay when dining in at the restaurant. The Ownly model, operated by CTRLX Technologies Private Limited, operates on a zero-commission basis. By eliminating the middleman’s high cut, restaurant owners hope they can offer more consistent pricing and improve their own bottom lines.
The adoption of this platform, which has already seen a rollout in Bengaluru, represents a test for the food technology sector. While the zero-commission promise is attractive to restaurants, the business of food delivery is capital-intensive. Established giants like Zomato and Swiggy have spent years building vast delivery networks, sophisticated technology stacks, and deep customer loyalty. For a new platform to succeed, it must prove that it can manage the complex logistics of food delivery—such as timely pickups and wide-ranging fleet availability—without the traditional commission revenue that usually funds these operations.
For investors, the development highlights the underlying friction between restaurant owners and delivery aggregators. While these aggregators currently dominate the market, their business models face scrutiny regarding their impact on restaurant sustainability. The success of this new model in Kolkata will depend on whether enough restaurants join the platform to create critical mass and whether consumers are willing to switch to a new app.
The key monitorables for the coming months will be the scale of restaurant adoption in the city, the reliability of the delivery service, and the ability of the platform to handle the operational costs of logistics. If successful, this shift could force larger players to reconsider their fee structures or face competition from more restaurant-friendly alternatives.