Eating Out: An Added Routine For Indians As Consumer Trends Evolve

On the mobile phone, over voice calls or a captive app, I counted another dozen who had the staff scurrying and hurrying, scooping all manner of goodies into carry bags for delivery to hungry, salivating Indians. It hit me—India’s eating habits and feeding choices have changed indeed.

Eating out was once an event, a celebration that families donned their Sunday best for. Today, things are different and ordering out is routine, not an indulgence. A faster lifestyle, affordable options aplenty and a single tap on an app are the cooks of this new broth.

All of the above and choices galore have given eating out a new dash of mistletoe, with Indians lining up for the culinary kiss. Mind you, it is not India mimicking the West. The world’s burger and pizza nations are seeing their bastion of clientele being stormed, to an extent that most are rushing to the Indian market, with many being turned away by fast-emerging desi competition.

Waning Global Brands

Numbers are the greatest determinant of any new trend pudding and here’s one to highlight the appetite for change—the National Restaurant Association (NRAI) estimates India’s Quick Service Restaurant sector will grow from US$25.46 billion today to US $38.71 billion in 2029.

That’s a jump of over 52 per cent in five years, better than most RoI avenues available globally. It is little wonder then that Domino’s, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Nando’s and others have focussed on India. The flipside to their coming is in their waning—Indian counterparts are catching up and giving them a run for their cheese and caffeine.

As taste and buying preferences mature, so has the selection of Indian options available on the eating-out menu. Desi start-ups like Pizza Wings, Boba Bhai, Biggies Burger, Uncle’s Paratha, Cakes & Bakes, Pinos, Burger Singh, Cheelizza, etc. are holding centre-stage, wooing global investors and HNIs.

Stoking the insatiable interest in India’s food start-ups is a perceptible shift in consumption patterns, faster store rollouts and wider 4G and 5G digital footprints leading to app adoption, all on the back of highly-visible branding and word-of-mouth promotion. Pricing is playing a critical part too, and we shall get to that in just a bit.

Institutional investors and High Networth Individuals (HNIs) keen to plunge their forks and knives into India’s burgeoning food start-up picnic find the market “interesting”, more so since the consumer is willing to try out newer brands for better pricing.

For instance, a burger or pizza from an Indian start-up costs 30-40 per cent less than one from established international chains, while offering a similar culinary experience. And be prepared for this next one; a cake from an Indian bakery typically costs as much as a pastry from a global brand. This has investors like Khazana, Turner Morrison, The Burger Co., Zerodha, Udaan and Titan Capital lining up for a piece of the pie.

Softer Ingrained Mantras

Paradoxically, today’s softer yet deeply-ingrained global mantras are helping food firms as the emerging generation—primarily youngsters—is discerning, using consumption patterns as a value statement about personal ideology and beliefs. Many go to the extent of marrying their consumption archetypes, including eating habits, with burning issues such as health, hunger, poverty and climate change.

Today’s consumer is not swayed by rhetoric or the media, which explains why Domino’s is more popular in smaller towns in India than in larger cities, or why Starbucks, Dunkin’ or Tim Hortons are not catching on as they did in Western nations.

Shantanu Vyas, a senior marketing executive with Dabur, sums it up succinctly: “Why should I spend Rs 500 on a cup of coffee I can get elsewhere for a tenth of that price, or chug down colas that contain more sugar than is good for me? Why should I down a greasy burger or cheesy pizza when my Indian tikki and vada pao taste better, are healthier and cost just a fraction? It is akin to wearing denims that guzzle bucketloads of water for every wash.”

Pricing Imbroglio

Price is a key reason for India’s shift in eating habits, as also an oscillation from vendors global to Indian; another is time—both are intertwined. It is the paucity of disposable time (and inclination) that has seen today’s consumers opt for off-the-shelf, ready-to-eat food, picking up the phone and ordering lunch and dinner on the go.

Here, the Swiggys and Zomatos have helped people as much as they have benefited themselves. On the other hand, pricing is catalysing the shift as pocket-sensitive consumers swap vendors to save on change, and then some.

It was the rising price of raw food commodities that led to the ‘eating-out syndrome’ catching on some years back. That scenario is only getting bleaker. “I decided to cook to save money, but a visit to the market killed that thought. Cauliflower is back to Rs 80 a kg, tomatoes are Rs 40-50 per kg, even colocasia (arbi) is pushing Rs 200 per kg, oils are around Rs 200 a litre… It is cheaper to order in, easier,” said Sailesh Das, a PR executive.

Multiply the likes of Das by the crores like him in India and you know why eating out is going to cost Rs 4 lakh crore annually by 2029. A study by Rakuten Insight shows that the average Indian now spends less than Rs 300 on an ordered meal for two, against Rs 500 a year back. This can be attributed to greater affordability stemming from increased competition, but also underlines an earnings crunch that is yet to be spoken aloud in right earnest.

It is thus simple logic, and perhaps the key reason, that when push comes to shove (or food comes to mouth), the local Indian vendor and thele-wala (street-side hawkers) always stands to win. After all, one man’s suspended shrub of enticing mistletoe can be another’s bed of uninviting thistles.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based journalist and commentator. Views expressed are personal)