Months after food aggregator Zomato launched its paid subscription program Infinity Dining, the company has suspended the same for an indefinite time following a row with NRAI, a Zomato spokesperson told Financial Express Online. While the company has not permanently shut curtains for the program, no concrete date for its revival has been set yet and the Deepinder Goyal-founded company is working to get it live again. “The product is in alpha stage and being tested continuously. Group dining, whether organised office parties or family outings, is a valuable large-table opportunity. The very focus of infinity was to enable more of these opportunities for restaurants. We received a range of feedback about the service, and have paused it as we incorporate the feedback,” Zomato’s spokesperson added.
Zomato, which has been embroiled in a row with National Restaurants Association of India, has been facing heat of the logout campaign for some as over thousand of restaurants signed off the platform stating “unsustainability” of Zomato’s Gold, Infinity programs. Deepinder Goyal, the company’s founder even tried to assuage the situation by limiting the benefits of Gold and Infinity program, late in August. As per Zomato’s proposal, the company was ready to tweak Zomato Gold, significantly limiting the benefits available to the customers. Among three major changes proposed, Zomato said that it will restrict multiple logins of one subscription; Gold usage will be limited to a single use per day and customers won’t be able to use more than two Gold unlocks per table. Zomato even proposed to bump the Gold subscription price to almost double; from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,800, to ensure “high-quality user base via Gold”.
However, NRAI president dissed the program and said that it is “another attempt to stuff old wine in a new bottle”.
What is Infinity Dining?
In a move that was expected to raise competition for Swiggy and UberEats, Zomato had ramped up its offerings for Gold members benefiting them with unlimited eating and drinking at select restaurants in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The program went live late in July. Valid for Gold subscribers only, the program called ‘Infinity Dining’ offered dining out and social drinking experience without putting a cap on the quantity, Zomato announced in July.