Grab has slashed its gross profit (GP) charge by more than 50% to 9% to attract merchants to sign up with the platform for the "Thai Chuay Thai Plus" subsidy scheme.
The delivery platform has spent 300 million baht on its marketing campaign.
The GP fee reduction follows similar campaigns by rivals to woo merchants to join them for the scheme.
Line Man Wongnai is investing 200 million baht for its marketing campaign for the scheme, and reduced its GP charge to 15%, while ShopeeFood cut its GP fee to 13%. All three platform also offer benefits to merchants and users.
The ceiling GP fee for Thailand's online food delivery operators is roughly 30%.
During the previous state subsidy scheme, Line Man Wongnai offered the lowest GP charge at 7%, which attracted 50,000 merchants and increased the company's sales by five times.
"Over the past several months, small and medium-sized restaurant operators faced multiple challenges, from rising ingredient costs driven by the energy crisis to softer consumer spending amid the economic slowdown," said Chantsuda Thananitayaudom, country head of Grab Thailand.
She said the return of the co-payment scheme comes at a crucial time, helping to stimulate the economy and ease the impact of the energy crisis on Thais.
The response has been overwhelming, with 26 million people registering for the subsidy from May 25-28.
"Grab is committed to supporting the country's economy and the government's agenda. We introduced a special commission rate at 9% together with a package featuring 10 exclusive benefits for merchants joining the scheme via GrabFood," Ms Chantsuda said.
In addition, the company is offering sales boosting programmes and discount codes worth up to 20,000 baht to help merchants attract customers and increase orders, as well as cash loans ranging from 2,500 baht up to 2 million baht to help eligible merchants improve liquidity and support business operations. Users are offered discounts of 12,000 baht per user and free delivery for the first 5 kilometres on every order placed using the Saver delivery option.
