Rapido Launches Ownly in Bengaluru With Zero-Commission Model, But Can It Sustain Without Charging Restaurants?

Rapido’s Head of New Initiatives, Vivek Vashishta, openly told restaurant partners at a National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) town hall that “In the beginning, we’re not going to be earning money.” This raises the obvious next question: what changes later?

The company faces three paths: flip to commission-based pricing and become what it criticised, exit like Ola and Uber did, or find an alternative revenue model that preserves the zero-commission promise.

A subscription model, like the one Rapido initially proposed in June 2025 before abandoning it, might prove more sustainable and honest than the current approach. Restaurants would know their costs upfront rather than watching platform fees creep up quarter by quarter.

Moreover, flat fees align incentives: as the platform earns from participation, not from taking a percentage of every sale. Whether Rapido returns to subscription-based pricing or eventually mirrors the incumbents’ commission structure remains the central question as it expands beyond Bengaluru.

The unit economics tell the real story. With no restaurant fees, no subscription charges, and only Rs. 30 per order from customers, Rapido currently has no clear revenue stream beyond delivery fees. The company has not disclosed plans for advertising revenue or other monetisation models as of now.

Consequently, Rapido may have to either find a different revenue stream or accept that Ownly operates as a loss leader indefinitely. The food delivery graveyard is full of well-funded platforms that couldn’t crack this problem.