15 March 2020

India Food Forum 2020 presents trends in takeaway and dining-in

Every year, India Food Forum – through a conference, masterclasses and specialised exhibition zones — presents and analyses unique research findings, consumption and retail trends in food. This year was no different.

India Food Forum 2020, the food retail intelligence event held in February in Mumbai, focused on massive emerging opportunities in cloud kitchens, food delivery systems and startups in the food space.

Saloni Nangia, President, Technopak, highlighted that food services and food retailing are exploring convergence, the emergence of captive dining spaces and delivery platforms competing in the mass-to-mid-market. Urban consumers are becoming more homogenous and locations are moving beyond malls and plazas, she said.

Kunal Gupta, Director- Lead, Digital Retail (E-commerce) Nielsen India, said 1.6x more dinner takeaway orders are received compared to lunch orders during weekdays. During weekends, dinner orders decline steeply. He concluded that people tend to go out for dinner more during the weekends.

Eight metros are driving volumes in the online food-ordering space, with South India being a clear leader with 40% market share. The majority (77%) of customers are males with 60% aged 18-29. More preference for vegetarian food is shown on Monday and Saturday.

Another clear trend was that southern cities mostly prefer north Indian cuisine. North Indian food is also the top preference in northern cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.

Avinash Chandani, Director, Strategy & Operations at Deloitte suggested that technology will be a disruptor of the ecosystem of food value chain. Some of the major trends that are shaping the industry are convenience eat-out and take-away options, a preference for healthy ingredients, glocalisation of taste, ease of online ordering and the role of social media. Also, hyperlocal delivery, though at a nascent stage in India, offers significant growth potential, he said.

Anurag Mathur, Partner & Leader, Consumer & Retail, Strategy PwC, stated that rising income, an underpenetrated market, urbanisation, a growing number of working women and increasing number of cuisine and format options will change the food service industry.