FoodPanda revoke over 500 restaurants registrations

FoodPanda is revoking registrations of over 500 restaurants every month as it aims to stabilise operations hit by frenetic growth and upheaval in top management, reported by ET.

The company has been under fire for alleged booking of fake orders by restaurants on its network, even as its Berlin-based parent is actively looking to divest its stake said people.

"It would be an anomaly to say our database is 100 percent clean now. We are 99 percent clean," said Saurabh Kochhar, CEO of FoodPanda, who took charge in January this year, following the acquisition of TastyKhana in November 2014.

Since then, Kochhar claims the company has doubled the number of restaurants on its platform to 12,000. "There are always 1% of vendors, sellers, restaurants and drivers in ecommerce industry who try and game the system," he said. Kochhar further said that the "investors are solidly behind the company".

FoodPanda was under fire for irregularities in operations at some restaurants on its platform. The issues raised include misusing discount offers and creating fake orders. The problem, according to people aware of the developments, was caused when restaurants were listed without physical verification. "For ecommerce businesses in India it's very important to verify a listed vendor in person," said one of the sources.

Kochhar claims to have now installed systems which detect IP address and location of restaurants if they try to book their own orders. "We first counsel and warn them, if they repeat the behaviour, we ban them," he said.

Foodpanda has also set up a quarterly audit to check anomalies. Kochhar said that he deactivates anywhere from 500 to 1,000 restaurants a month as part of the clean-up drive.