Over 25,000 Signatures for Dineout's Petition Requesting Government Aid for Restaurants Affected by COVID-19 Lockdown

• Resonates among the wider Indian audience with 25K endorsements with more than 7500 new petitions every day
• Top restaurateurs show support to save local restaurants and livelihoods of F&B workers 

NEW DELHI, April 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The F&B industry and local restaurant businesses have been severely impacted amidst the nation wide shutdown to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. With an annual turnover of Rs 4 Lakh crore, the industry could potentially hit total bankruptcy as it fights a long and hard battle against basic survival. India's food services industry currently employs around 7.3 million people and contributes more than 18,000Cr in taxes. It is among the largest industries in the service sector and is 20x of the Indian film industry, 4.7x of hotels and 1.5x of the pharmaceutical sector. If lockdowns continue, 20% to 25% of the employee-base could lose their jobs.

The subsequent financial crisis triggered by the lockdown has made it extremely tough for restaurants to pay for expenses, rent, salaries & more. To help them navigate through this turmoil, India's largest dining out and restaurant tech platform, Dineout, has initiated an online petition to support NRAI on change.org (https://www.change.org/ReliefForRestaurants), requesting the Finance Ministry and Government of India to help restaurants with employee unemployment pay cover, moratorium on upcoming statutory dues, delay in utility bill payments, holiday/temporary stoppage on EMI payments & interest, freezing rental dues & restoration of Input Tax Credit on GST for all restaurants. 

The petition has received widespread acknowledgment and has been signed by more than 25,000 people and endorsed by some of the country's biggest restaurateurs & F&B entrepreneurs like Olive Bar and Kitchen Founder, AD Singh, Biryani Blues Founder Raymond Andrews, Massive Restaurants founder, Zorawar Kalra, Gurupreet Singh Bali, Owner, Gillys, Chef Megha Kohli, Times Chef of the Year 2020, Vicky Ratnani, Gourmand, Connoisseur, Celebrity Chef, Sleepy Owl Coffee Co-Founder Arman Sood and FIO Restaurant Co-Founders Vineet Wadhwa & Vanshika Wadhwa among others.

Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO - Dineout, said, "The Indian food service industry is one our country's largest industries in the service sector after retail and insurance that feeds not only 7 million plus households, it also supports multiple allied industries such as real estate, food processing, consulting and many more. Dining in contributes more than 92% to the overall margins for these small businesses, and the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns and zero footfalls have led to huge monetary gaps that they are reeling under. We are heartened by the widespread support to our effort to draw attention to the struggles of this sector."

AD Singh, Founder - Olive Bar and Kitchen, observed, "The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak is an uncharted territory for most restaurants across India, and no one knows how long this is likely to continue. While some of us are lucky to be working from home and support our families, unfortunately, our industry does not have that option. Given most local restaurants work on wafer-thin margins owing to ever surging fixed costs these are also among the most vulnerable to such sustained shutdowns. We are grateful to see brands like Dineout step up and work proactively to help the local businesses during times of such crisis."

To sign the #ReliefForRestaurants petition: https://www.change.org/ReliefForRestaurants 

About Dineout

Dineout is India's largest dining out and restaurant tech solutions platform in B2C and B2B front with InResto & Torqus, processing more than 40M diners and $800M worth of transactions for its partner restaurants across its network of 50,000 restaurants in 20 cities, providing a collective savings of more than $100M on restaurant bills annually. Founded in 2012 by Ankit Mehrotra, Nikhil Bakshi, Sahil Jain and Vivek Kapoor, Dineout is the easiest way to discover the best restaurants in the city, save time & hassle by booking a table in advance, get discounts, enjoy exclusive privileges on Food, Drink & Buffets through Gourmet Passport, as well as earn cashback on every restaurant bill payment via Dineout Pay. For more information, please visit -  https://www.dineout.co.in/

Media Contact :
Manoj Kumar
[email protected]
Dineout

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