A Zomato & Swiggy Commission Alternative for Dine-In and Pickup Orders
Let us be fair to the aggregators first: Zomato and Swiggy solved discovery and delivery at a scale no single restaurant could, and for reaching new customers across a city nothing matches them. The cost of that reach is the commission — widely reported in the 18-30% range depending on the contract — plus packaging costs, discounts you partly fund, and the uncomfortable fact that the customer relationship belongs to the app rather than to you. For delivery to strangers, that trade can still be worth it. It makes far less sense when a regular who lives two streets away orders pickup through the app and you quietly surrender a quarter of the bill.
Krishna Menu is the direct channel for exactly those orders. A QR code on your table, counter or WhatsApp status opens your own menu — photos, prices, specials — and dine-in or pickup orders arrive straight on your KOT printer with no middleman and no commission, ever. You pay a flat ₹999 to ₹4,999 per year, an amount many restaurants recover from a single weekend of commission-free orders, and every phone number stays yours for festival offers. The sensible strategy is not quitting the apps; it is keeping them for discovery while quietly moving your regulars, walk-ins and pickup customers to a channel where the full margin is yours.
| Feature | Zomato / Swiggy | Krishna Menu |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per order | Typically 18-30% on app orders | Zero — flat yearly fee only |
| Customer data | Stays with the platform | Phone numbers and orders stay with you |
| New customer discovery | Excellent — their core strength | None — serves people already reaching you |
| Delivery fleet | Provided by the platform | Not included — built for dine-in and pickup |
| Menu and price control | Platform rules and listing formats | Fully yours, change anything in seconds |
| Discounts | Campaigns you partly fund | Only the offers you choose to run |
| Annual cost | Commission scales with your sales | Flat ₹999 to ₹4,999 per year |
| Kitchen flow | Orders via platform device or app | Direct to your KOT printer |
| Best for | Delivery to new, far-away customers | Dine-in, counter pickup and regulars |
અમારો પ્રામાણિક ચુકાદો
Keep Zomato and Swiggy for what they do best — putting your restaurant in front of strangers and delivering across the city. Move everything else to direct ordering: dine-in tables, counter pickup, and regulars who already message you on WhatsApp. At a flat yearly fee, Krishna Menu typically pays for itself within weeks of shifting even a small share of orders, and every rupee of margin and every customer number you reclaim compounds over time. Restaurants that treat aggregators as advertising rather than infrastructure end up owning their own business.
Common questions
Can I really ask customers to order directly instead of through apps?
Yes — dine-in and pickup customers are already standing in your restaurant, so there is no awkwardness, just a QR code on the table and counter. For regulars who order by phone, a short link to your menu in a WhatsApp reply does the work. Many restaurants add a small direct-order incentive, like a free sweet, which still costs far less than any commission.
Should I remove my restaurant from Zomato and Swiggy entirely?
For most restaurants, no. The apps remain unmatched for discovery and for delivering to customers you could not otherwise serve, and disappearing from them hands that visibility to competitors. The profitable pattern is hybrid: stay listed, accept commission as a marketing cost for genuinely new customers, and steer repeat, dine-in and pickup business to your own commission-free channel.
How does Krishna Menu handle the actual ordering?
Customers scan the QR, browse your menu with photos, and place the order from their own phone; it prints on your kitchen KOT printer or shows on a screen, exactly like a captain's slip. You take payment at the counter as you always have. Setup is quick because the AI import builds your digital menu from a photograph of your existing printed card.