Restaurant Owner Exposes Real Earnings From ₹21K Zomato Orders, Company Responds

Zomato acts as a bridge between restaurants and customers, where restaurants list themselves and people conveniently order food through the platform. While it provides visibility and reach, assuming that restaurants always earn satisfactorily from it may not be accurate. Recently, a restaurant owner voiced his disappointment on X, sharing the meager payout he received from Zomato.

Restaurant owner exposes Zomato payouts after receiving meager payment despite generating more sales

A restaurant owner named Mahender Vaddepalli recently took to the social media platform X to express his disappointment with Zomato’s payout system. Despite generating over Rs 21,000 in sales through the food delivery platform in just one week, he ended up receiving less than half of it as his final payout. In his post, he tagged Zomato and wrote,

“@zomato as a restaurant owner we are facing losses due to this kind of payouts it’s just sucking like our blood what kind of robbery is this?”

Looking at the settlement breakdown, the customer payable amount was Rs 21,388.71. Out of this, Zomato deducted several charges. Service fees and payment mechanism fees alone cost the restaurant Rs 6,036.75. On top of that, government charges amounted to Rs 2,125.50, while another Rs 3,860.39 was cut under the head of “investments in growth services & miscellaneous deductions.” Even after a small addition of Rs 473.59, the final amount that the restaurant owner was paid came down to just Rs 9,839.66.

In order to corroborate his claims, he even attached evidence in form of a screenshot that showcased the past cycle of earning and payout.

This sharp difference between what the restaurant earned and what it finally received highlights the growing concern among small business owners who depend on food delivery platforms for visibility and sales. While these apps bring in customers, the heavy deductions in the form of commissions, taxes, and other charges often leave restaurants struggling to make a fair profit.

Have a look at the whole tweet

@zomato as a restaurant owner we are facing losses due to this kind of payouts it’s just sucking like our blood what kind of robbery is this ? pic.twitter.com/fCc0hdBlC5

— mahender vaddepalli (@mahendervaddep2) September 13, 2025

As soon as the post was made public it prompted Zomato to respond

Soon after Mahender Vaddepalli’s post went public, Zomato quickly jumped into the comments with its standard responses. One reply read,

“Hi Mahender, we’ve addressed your concern via email at v*******i@gmail.com. Please have a look and feel free to reach out to us for any further assistance.”

Hi Mahender, we’ve addressed your concern via email at v*******i@gmail.com. Please have a look and feel free to reach out to us for any further assistance.

— Zomato Care (@zomatocare) September 19, 2025

Another followed with,

“Hey Mahender, we never wanted you to feel this way, and we’d like to discuss your issue. Please DM us your restaurant ID so we can get this checked.”

Hey Mahender, we never wanted you to feel this way, and we’d like to discuss your issue. Please DM us your restaurant ID so we can get this checked. https://t.co/jcTFuGT2Se

— Zomato Care (@zomatocare) September 13, 2025

While the replies might look polite, they feel more like automated responses than actual solutions. To imagine that Zomato would genuinely act on this concern feels highly unlikely. The real shock, however, lies in the numbers! Out of sales worth over Rs 21,000, Mahender was left with less than Rs 10,000, not even half of the original amount. Calling it “robbery” doesn’t seem too far-fetched when you look at the figures. The deductions are so heavy that one wonders how small restaurants can even survive in the long run while depending on such platforms.

Corpseed

What do you think about this situation? Do you feel restaurants are being unfairly treated by food delivery platforms like Zomato, or is this just the cost of being part of the ecosystem? Share your thoughts in the comments below.