Zomato Gold has been a game changer in terms of driving the dine-out habits of customers, a new report has claimed, saying there has been a 20 percent decline in bill volumes for partners after they logged out of Zomato Gold programme.

Gold partners have witnessed over 35 percent growth in bill volumes after partnering with Zomato Gold and weekday growth has been marginally better than weekend growth, said the report from Bengaluru-based research firm RedSeer.

"Ninety percent of Zomato Gold Members try out new restaurants just because of the programme. Dine-out frequency for Gold members has increased from 2.8 to 3.3 times/month after subscribing to Gold membership and is 50 percent higher than that of non-Gold members," the findings showed.

Zomato on Saturday announced to take its Gold programme to delivery platform, where existing and new Zomato Gold members will be able to use Gold for home delivery orders. The programme is currently available in 16 cities.

Zomato Gold was till date available only on eating out at fine-dine restaurants.

According to the new report, 95 percent of Zomato Gold Members order more number of dishes/drinks because of Gold discounts.

"Pre-discount average bill value for Gold members is over 11 percent higher than non-members," the RedSeer report mentioned.

Sixty percent of the Gold partners agree that there has been an increase in new customers coming in because of Zomato Gold.

Fifty-five percent of the Gold partners have witnessed an increase in visit frequency of Gold customers, the report added.

Students and young professionals with low-income tend to have lower bill value are also utilizing the Gold programme to its maximum.

"Onboarding members via sources like premium credit cards, video subscription platforms, HNI (high networth individuals) targeted platforms like Cred etc. will further enhance the presence of high-spending individuals on Gold platform," the report added.

Meanwhile, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has slammed Zomato for extending its "Gold" programme on its delivery platform, saying it is a desperate attempt by the online food aggregator to shore up the sinking fortunes of its flagship Gold programme.

NRAI also said that it continues to remain firm in its belief that Zomato Gold in its current form is an unacceptable proposition.

According to Zomato, the Gold programme drives 25-30 percent business for its restaurant partners and more and more Gold users (90 percent) are exploring new restaurants because of the programme.

Gold on delivery will offer the second-highest priced item on the order for free, except for combos, MRP items and special dishes.