Careem CEO writes open letter to restaurant owners in Pakistan

Dear Restaurant Owners, 

The dine-in industry has taken a severe economic hit due to pandemic impacting millions of lives. We are extremely proud and thankful for your relentless efforts and commitment to get the industry back on foot which offers livelihood to millions of Pakistanis. In this open letter today, we at Careem, would like to offer an online food aggregator service to support restaurants during these tough times. 

Since Careem launched its operations in Pakistan in 2016, our purpose has always been to build an app that remains a constant source of positive impact and prosperity for the people in Pakistan by simplifying lives, creating job opportunities and enabling our partners to grow. 

We launched our all-new Super App in June 2020, thereby adding numerous other services to our existing ride-hailing service including Food delivery. Our Foodservice is already launched in Karachi and is planned to be launched in Lahore in October 2020, followed by Islamabad. We are new entrants in the Food market, however, the way we plan our operations is not only in the best interest of Careem but also safeguarding the interest of our restaurant partners is a key priority. 

We have done some research to understand key challenges faced by restaurants, and today in order to address those challenges, we would like to make some important announcements for the restaurant industry in Pakistan. To sum it up, we would like to put forward a proposal that we believe would be fair and in the best interest of Careem as well as our restaurant partners. 

• Aggregator Commission: We understand the current thin profits made by the restaurants. We will set a commision with the mutual consent of restaurants. The commissions will range between 15% to 20% with annual commitment for the rest of the year. This will also include the delivery by Careem and will cover for our platform costs. Any proposal to revisit (reduce / increase) in future will be value based and will be mutually discussed with our partners. 
• Flexibility of Self Delivery: All the restaurants registered on our application will have the liberty to do deliveries themselves if they choose to do so. We want to simplify and improve their lives, not be a burden to them. With self-drivery option, the commission of 15% to 20% will be further reduced. 
• No Exclusivity: Time and time again, we have emphasized on the fact that the opportunity in the region is massive. Pakistan is a market with huge potential and the existing players

in the market have barely scratched the surface. We do not mind sharing with others and definitely do not want to add barriers in the growth of others. 

• Caring Support and enabling growth for our partners: Humility is in our DNA, we at Careem would go an extra mile to provide best in class support. Our teams will work in collaboration with our restaurant partners to make their business grow. 
• Special package for APRA members: We would also like to announce a special package for APRA member restaurants. Members will be eligible to have further relaxed commercial and operational terms. For details please reach out to us directly. 

At Careem, we do understand the challenging times restaurants are going through and would like to ensure that the restaurant and food industry in Pakistan grows. We strongly believe that Pakistan’s food industry should get its due credit and identity it deserves. We will stand with restaurants during this tough time and in return would expect their willingness to grow together. 

If you would have the same belief as us and would want to grow your business with us, please do not hesitate to contact our team via [email protected]. 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

Sincerely, 

Zeeshan Baig 

CEO/Country General Manager 

Careem Pakistan