Digital Food Aggregator System: Lazeez Hakeem®’s Business Position, Concerns and Solution

Protecting the Merchant’s Food Value, While the Platform Charges the Customer for Its Services

India’s restaurant and cloud kitchen business is rapidly becoming digital. Online ordering and delivery platforms have provided convenience to customers and wider reach to restaurants. However, this digital system has also raised an important commercial question for merchants—does the restaurant receive the complete actual value of the food it prepares and sells?

Lazeez Hakeem® has a clear view that the business relationship between a restaurant and a third-party digital platform should be transparent, clear and balanced.

We are not against digital ordering or technology. We want technology to be useful for both the restaurant and the customer. However, charging or deducting any type of platform fee from the restaurant’s food sale is not an acceptable business model for us.

It Is Important to Understand the Restaurant’s Actual Cost

An online food order may involve only a few clicks for the customer, but there are actual costs behind it for the restaurant.

Raw material, kitchen staff, gas, electricity, packaging, preparation, wastage, rent, taxes and other operating costs are borne by the restaurant itself.

Therefore, Lazeez Hakeem® believes that the Gross Food Value of the food prepared by the restaurant should be received in full by the restaurant.

If a third-party platform provides its own ordering, technology, delivery or other service, the commercial charge for that service should not be taken from the merchant’s food value.

Our Clear Business Position

We are not in favour of any type of Aggregator or Platform Fee. From the merchant’s food sale:

• No Commission
• No Delivery Fee
• No Convenience Fee
• No Promotion Fee
• No Advertising Fee
• No Service Fee
• And no Platform Deduction under any other name

The restaurant should receive 100% of its Gross Food Value.

Whatever commercial charge the platform wishes to take for its technology, ordering, delivery or other services should be collected from the customer through a customer-facing model, with the customer being clearly informed about it.

A Simple and Transparent Model

The system we consider more transparent is simple:

• Customer — pays the Food Value plus selected Platform Services.
• Restaurant — receives the complete payment for its Gross Food Value.
• Platform — generates its revenue for technology, ordering, delivery or other services through customer-facing charges.

This keeps the restaurant’s food economics and the platform’s service economics separate.

Delivery Responsibility Should Also Be Clear

The restaurant prepares the food and hands the order over for pickup according to the defined process. After that, delivery logistics may be part of the platform and its delivery network.

If the food has been prepared on time, but there is an issue with rider availability, allocation, pickup or delivery, the financial burden should not automatically be placed on the restaurant.

In any dispute, responsibility should be determined on the basis of available data such as order preparation time, rider assignment, pickup and delivery records.

Why should the party that is not at fault bear the payment? This is the fundamental principle of transparency.

Fair Resolution of Customer Complaints

Lazeez Hakeem® takes genuine complaints related to food quality, taste, quantity or preparation seriously.

However, a customer complaint should not automatically mean a financial penalty on the merchant.

The restaurant should have the opportunity to review the complaint, present its position and, where necessary, provide an appropriate solution such as a refund, replacement or other suitable resolution.

The customer relationship is important to the restaurant and should not be viewed merely as a third-party transaction.

Promotion and Visibility Should Also Be Clear

If a restaurant wishes to advertise or promote itself according to its own requirements, it should be an independent commercial decision.

The merchant should clearly know whether any promotion is:

• Optional or mandatory
• What the cost is
• Who is bearing the cost
• And what impact it will have on the merchant payout

Our principle is clear: merchant food revenue should not be mandatorily reduced in order to purchase visibility.

Merchant Data and Payout Transparency

The merchant should have access to proper details of its orders and financial records.

A clear record of orders, cancellations, refunds, adjustments and payouts is necessary for the merchant to reconcile its accounts.

If a merchant raises a question regarding a transaction, it should receive not merely an automated response, but a clear calculation and explanation of the reason.

Closing a ticket and resolving a problem are not the same thing.

Lazeez Hakeem®’s Own Solution

We are not only talking about the problem. We are also adopting a practical solution.

Lazeez Hakeem® is strengthening its direct digital channels so that customers have multiple ordering options available:

• Official website ordering
• WhatsApp ordering
• POS and direct ordering
• Takeaway
• Dine-in

A customer who is comfortable with the website can order through the website. A customer who finds WhatsApp easier can order through WhatsApp.

In other words, the purpose of technology is not to make the customer dependent on one particular route, but to provide options according to the customer’s convenience.

Third-party platforms can also be a medium for customer discovery and ordering, but Lazeez Hakeem® does not believe in making its business completely dependent on any one external platform.

Our Clear Message to Third-Party Platforms

Lazeez Hakeem® is ready for a professional and transparent business relationship with digital platforms. But our commercial position is clear: no platform charge on the merchant’s food value.

If a platform wants to generate revenue for its services, a customer-facing commercial model may be adopted for that purpose. Keeping the restaurant’s food sale and the platform’s service fee separate is a clearer and more sustainable arrangement.

If a platform has a genuine concern regarding the restaurant’s quality, service, compliance or performance, appropriate action may be taken according to the contractual framework.

However, allowing a restaurant to do business on a platform while taking unclear or unilateral charges or deductions from its food revenue is not an acceptable commercial position for Lazeez Hakeem®.

Our Path: Digital Freedom

We do not want to stop digital business. We want to balance it. We want:

• Direct customer relationship
• Transparent digital ordering
• Clear financial records
• Independent business channels
• Customer choice
• Fair commercial terms

A restaurant should use technology, but it should not be compelled to hand over its entire business identity and customer relationship to a third-party system.

A Sustainable Digital Food Ecosystem

In our view, the future food-delivery ecosystem will be stronger when the customer receives convenience, the platform receives fair revenue for its services, and the restaurant receives the full value of its food. The commercial relationship between all three should be clear.

The objective of Lazeez Hakeem® is not to create conflict with any platform. Our objective is to develop a clear, transparent and sustainable digital model for our business.

But partnership cannot mean that the merchant loses its commercial control over its own food sale.

Lazeez Hakeem®’s Clear Commitment

We are with digital ordering. We are with technology. We are with customer convenience.

But we are not with merchant-funded platform charges.

The restaurant’s food value should belong to the restaurant. The commercial model for the platform’s service should be clearly established between the platform and the customer. And the basis for any deduction, penalty or financial adjustment should be clear, documented and reviewable.

Digital partnership — yes. Transparent business — yes. Platform charges from merchant food value — no.

Lazeez Hakeem® | Since 1971
Food • Hospitality • Digital Ordering • Customer Experience • Sustainable Business