How Indian's are consuming Food: 5 takeaways for foodpreneurs from Chef Ranveer Brar

In 2020, 43% of consumers reported following a specific diet or eating pattern during the last year, up from 38% in 2019 and 36% in 2018. Intermittent fasting was the most popular (10%), followed by clean eating (9%), ketogenic or high fat (8%), shared a research.

Also, more and more people have shifted their eating habits towards more healthy, mindful and local & fresh ingredients and food. Covid-19 has completely changed the consumption behavior among Indians and at large globally. Today, food business is no more just about food but also the adoption of tech-infused business. “Food-tech business is the future and there’s no food business and tech business. We need to become a food-tech people and there’s no section in food business anymore,” shared Celebrity Chef Ranveer Brar who was one of the first chef in India to adopt technology at large. According to chef these are some trends that have changed the whole consumption pattern amongst us Indians, few being noted below:

Also Read: How Restaurant Business Grows on Customisation

We are what we eat, consume: Every one of us at some point in time have gone through a video, a food image, a post from a chef or media personality that we follow have scrolled or loved to consume. Content has played a major role in last one year where everyone has tried their best to come up with the best of the content. “The ability to learn content through a master classes, online learning, consuming content while you wait for something that you have ordered. The easy accumulation of content in the food ecosystem is a big jump that would have taken sometime,” added Chef Brar who himself has created the best of the content via cooking videos, food posts etc during the tough times.

Subscription-based model is here to stay: In the current state of the global pandemic, the online delivery business has seen such an outgrowing growth and it has also boosted the growth of subscription-based model. Subscription-based or meal kit delivery services is one of the highest evolved services in the food-tech industry. According to Statista, the meal kit industry was valued at $4.65 billion in 2017. The very next year it blew up with a 300 percent increase. Estimates for 2022 are that the market will reach $11.6 billion globally.  “Subscription business was something that we were always struggling in the country and now the time for subscription has come whether it is meal-kit subscription, beverage subscription model, etc. From the very basic subscription of getting your dabba delivered at home to the tech-led subscription.  Subscription has brought a big change in the life and precise of the customer,” pointed the celebrity chef.

Must Read: Should you consider a subscription-based food delivery model?

Customisation is the key: From fast food to the customize food, that’s how we have seen the food business evolve and grow in India. These are some of the trend that has brought a big change during the pandemic that could have taken the long time but was extremely fast-forwarded. And, that has created lots of opportunity to innovate for many brands.

It’s about mindfulness: “We often spoke about mindful eating, connecting to food but we were on a journey were things were slower and people’s taste was always driving everything else. Health food was a very small market but today mindfulness has become a game across the country, across all tier- cities. “It’s only when you become aware that personal health and public health are interconnected and you effect other and others effect you in really drastic ways then it’s a dynamic shift and it’s not a shift that is temporary but a permanent shift,” said chef Brar.

There’s no innovation without repetition: To have a food business that has innovation should also have the DNA that allows you to enjoy the repetition, create consistency and allows customers to have repeat orders if not the faith enough to try new things that you make all the time. There’s no innovation without repetition.