"Premium whiskies most preferred choice of alcohol by Indians", survey

The year 2020 has been a roller coaster ride for the F&B industry almost like the plot of a Bollywood movie.

The industry that thrives on social gatherings has seen a paradigm shift in terms of consumer choices and has transformed itself by adopting means to earn consumer confidence.

“The pandemic didn’t stop foodies from showing their love for different delicacies and their fondness for eating out - North Indian food was most missed, casual dining was most popular, premium whisky and brownies continued to remain the preferred choice of alcohol and dessert for diners, with Ahmedabad alone ordering 1,10,000 brownies,” shared dining trend by Dineout.

According to the report, it also mentioned that, Bangalore, the alcohol capital of India, chugged down 5,466 liters of liquor in February 2020 alone. Whereas, Hyderabad, the city of buffets, continued picking up the most food in buffets. However, Goa grew into the new city of love for it had the maximum reservations for tables for two, while Agra & Ludhiana had the maximum reservations for tables of four. 

When it comes to dining out, dinner outings have increased to 63% post-COVID as compared to 55% before COVID, added the report claiming that 58% of Indians chose to go out for dinner, while only 24% liked going out for lunch, except in Hyderabad where 40% of the populace preferred eating out during lunch. 

“The year 2020 has been unprecedented for the restaurant industry as it suffered a severe downfall like never before. But, the industry has emerged from months of shutdown by fundamentally altering its operations and by setting new standards. In December alone we’ve clocked 100 Crore worth of transactions and that shows how promising 2021 is going to be,” shared Ankit Mehrotra, CEO & Co-founder, Dineout.

The report indicated that 15,000+ restaurants opted for the Contactless Dining suite from inresto. There was a 151% growth in Digital Menu transactions in the last 5 months indicating that the restaurant industry is slowly recovering and adapting to the new normal. Average transaction value also increased by 26% from INR 1610 pre lockdown to INR 2026 post lockdown.