Capitalising on the loosened lockdown allowing restaurants to offer takeout, the Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal is launching an online platform for hungry customers to order food from participating establishments.

Restaurants are still closed for sit-down dining under the new guidelines issued on Thursday.

"From next week, customers can go to reban.ordersathi.com and place orders for food from 60 listed restaurants," said Araniko Rajbhandari, president of the association. After the order has been made, communication will be made through WhatsApp for the final confirmation.

The association and ordersathi.com signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday to provide the service. So far, 60 restaurants have signed up for the scheme, said Rajbhandari. The participating restaurants are finalising their menus and uploading photographs of the dishes.

"Restaurant waiters will double as deliverymen and home deliver orders. They will be trained and provided with motorbikes," Rajbhandari said. The minimum order will be Rs600-700 and there will be no extra charge for delivery.

Orders will be delivered to addresses in Kathmandu and outlying residential areas like Bhainsepati and Sunakothi, he said.

The association will operate the online platform on a subscription basis instead of charging a commission on the cost of food.

The association plans to extend the platform across the country. In the first phase, the service will be available in Kathmandu valley and then Pokhara, Sauraha and other major cities.

After 80 days of lockdown when income was zero, restaurant owners were close to broke and desperately needed to get their businesses going again. “We did not see any alternative except to home deliver food. In a situation like this, it is possible to operate the restaurant business using a digital platform,” he said.

Almost a third of the restaurants used to serve tourists, so they need to diversify their menus according to domestic demand to remain in business, he said.

Restaurants used to outsource deliveries by paying a 20 percent commission, he said. The association decided to operate an online platform for delivering food in a bid to minimise the cost for customers. “We hope that this new step will provide some relief to our business,” Rajbhandari said.

There was pressure to reopen the restaurants to earn money to pay the rent, electricity bills, employee salaries and government taxes.

Following the development, restaurants in the valley are stirring back to life and are engaged in cleaning their premises after being shuttered for 80 days, he said.

Customers can also order food through various online delivery services as before. The opening of various channels to deliver food increases the capacity utilisation of restaurants, he said.

According to Rajbhandari, restaurants will likely come up with an affordable menu price as now it is more about surviving amid the pandemic than making a profit.

This is also about establishing the culture of ordering restaurant food online as the food delivery business is booming in neighbouring countries too.

Customers should not feel that food ordered from restaurants is expensive. “The cost of home delivered restaurant food should be equal to the cost of food prepared at home,” he said. This will increase the volume of transactions.

Value added tax and service charge make restaurant food expensive, and when you add delivery charge, it becomes very pricey.

The restaurants are a major market for vegetables, dairy and livestock, and they keep the economy of these sectors going. The government should not treat restaurants as luxurious places to spend money, he said.

Restaurants need to be a member of the association to be listed on its online platform. The association is holding discussions on whether to include non-members too.

The association has nearly 500 member restaurants across the country with around 200 members in Kathmandu valley.