According to The Week, the pricing tool foodcost calculated that a ₹400 dish with packaging leaves a restaurant roughly ₹220 once commission of 24–25%, 18% GST, 0.1% TDS and a payment gateway fee of about 2% are taken off. Those deductions sat behind the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association's threat to boycott Zomato and Swiggy from August 15, 2026.
The threat and the deadline
According to The Week, restaurants across Bengaluru said they would stop accepting Zomato and Swiggy orders from August 15, 2026 unless the two platforms changed how they handle commissions, discounts, advertising fees and deductions from payouts.
The decision was announced on July 29, 2026 by the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association (BBHA), after several rounds of talks with the platforms had failed to settle anything.
What the association says is wrong
BBHA president S Subramanya Holla said the platforms take between 8% and 28% of the total food bill in commission. The association's complaint goes further than the rate itself:
- Platforms run steep discounts without first getting the restaurant's approval, which takes a further bite out of the bill.
- When a customer cancels an order or raises a complaint, the restaurant carries the loss.
- BBHA also alleges that restaurants are charged for advertising they did not explicitly agree to.
Line by line: what comes off a ₹400 order
The Week cited foodcost, a digital tool for working out prices, to show how a single order shrinks. Taking a hypothetical ₹400 dish with packaging charges, the tool listed these deductions:
- Commission of 24–25%
- GST at 18%
- TDS at 0.1%
- A payment gateway fee of about 2%
Taken together, by foodcost's calculation, they leave the restaurant a payout of around ₹220. That gap between the menu price and the money actually received is why restaurants argue that a platform's headline commission rate understates what it really costs them to sell through it.
What the restaurants want instead
According to The Week, BBHA was not simply asking for a lower rate. Its demands were:
- A full breakdown of commission and payout on every order
- Fairer rules on customer complaints and cancellations, so the restaurant does not automatically bear the loss
- A dedicated manager at each platform, so problems can be discussed directly rather than sent through a general support queue
NRAI backed the grievance, not the boycott
NRAI, the National Restaurant Association of India, took a more cautious line. Its president, Sagar Daryani, told the Times of India it was unfortunate that restaurants had been left feeling "so cornered" that boycotting Swiggy and Zomato seemed the only option open to them. NRAI supported the complaint itself but argued for negotiation over a walkout.
The dispute runs alongside a separate antitrust complaint NRAI has brought against both platforms before the Competition Commission of India (CCI). That case sought to have forced exclusivity, price parity clauses and steep commissions ruled anti-competitive, and CCI's first investigation had already found alleged breaches of fair-trade rules by both platforms.
What this means for your restaurant
- Check your own payout statements against the four deductions The Week listed: commission, GST, TDS and the payment gateway fee. Compare what you receive with your menu price, not only with the commission rate.
- Keep a record of platform-run discounts, cancellations and complaints that reduced your payout, since these were central to BBHA's complaint.
- Look for advertising charges on your statements and confirm you agreed to each one; BBHA alleged that some were applied without explicit consent.
Sources
- 'Won't take orders anymore': Why Bengaluru restaurants are threatening to boycott Zomato, Swiggy — The Week
This article summarises the reporting and guides listed above; the figures belong to those sources and are attributed in the text. Check anything that affects your business against your own platform agreements, payout statements and advisers.