The food culture in Chandigarh is remarkable for its diversity — from family-run small kitchens to popular cafes and eateries across different sectors. Chandigarh offers a wide range of options reflecting both traditional and modern tastes. These places are not just places of business but also form a distinct identity of the city.
Ordering from local restaurants ensures that your money stays within the community, offering a means of livelihood for the people residing there. It not only supports restaurant owners but also the kitchen staff, delivery workers and the suppliers. This, in return, not only helps local businesses grow and contribute to the local economy but also promotes their confidence, which acts as fuel for improvement and invention in the near future.
Supporting local restaurants does not necessarily mean that you visit them in person and eat there, which is not always feasible or possible. You can support these local restaurants by opting to order from them online, even when you have a variety of different high-end restaurants available just a click away.
The Platform Problem
While many of you may have been ordering food online from local restaurants at a much higher price, have you ever wondered if that extra expense is really helping the restaurants, or are they just a source of profit for food delivery platforms?
Most restaurants are not thriving on food delivery platforms, but rather, they are just surviving. Most of the currently used food delivery models do not favour restaurants. Platforms charge high commission on orders from restaurants. These restaurants, in return, increase their prices online or adjust their quality so as not to affect themselves and remain in a profitable business.
This affects customers as well, as you end up paying more and oftentimes have to compromise with food quality.
What seems like an act of positivity and upliftment — ordering from a local restaurant — might actually be working against them if the platform is extracting 25% of every order.
What Real Support Looks Like
Supporting local restaurants through online platforms means being aware of the challenges faced by restaurant owners and choosing platforms that offer fairer systems, changing the equation. For the same causeway, Zero Commission models are becoming famous nowadays. Kwikkit works on the same model, allowing restaurants to list their actual prices without inflation and without needing to compromise on the quality of food and their margins.
By removing high commissions and unnecessary hidden charges, restaurants operate sustainably while customers get the same taste at the same expense.
Your act of making small changes can make a real difference. Ordering from restaurant-friendly platforms contributes to a healthier ecosystem where each of the units involved — the platform, restaurant and the consumer — all benefit.
Supporting local restaurants is not just about intention. It's about making the right choice because a strong food culture does not survive on demand alone. It survives on fairness.