Why Ayodhya could be the Next Dining Destination for Homegrown Restaurants

The holy town of Ayodhya has gained global prominence over the last 2-3 years and the wait is finally over, with the final ceremony being planned this Jan-24, Retail including F&B segment is hopeful of large tourist traffic flow at Ayodhya, thanks to the infrastructure and logistics development which has taken place over a short period of time.

Early in the race, quick-service restaurant chain Burger Singh entered the city earlier last year by opening its outlet in the pilgrimage city. “The Ayodhya outlet is one of the top 10%-12% of the outlets in the Burger Singh ecosystem even before the consecration of Ram temple,” said Kabir Jeet Singh, CEO& Founder, Burger Singh by adding that as the highly anticipated inauguration of the Ram Lalla Mandir in Ayodhya approaches, Burger Singh is looking forward to an exciting journey as it is becoming the next tourist destination,  it is expected that after the consecration of the Ram Lalla, the footfall is expected to cross one lakh pilgrims every day and we hope to have a slice of the same. 

Commenting on the same, Rajat Agrawal, CEO, Barista shared, “We are looking for retail spaces actively to initiate business in Ayodhya, our intent is to provide seamless experience to all our guests at each touchpoint and we are committed to the same for Ayodhya. With 2024 kick-starting with opening of our 400th store (Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi), network expansion at Ayodhya will be a big positive for the brand.”

There’s no denying that as Ayodhya becomes a focal point for cultural and religious gatherings, restaurant brands will look forward to more veg-only outlets.

“Further, we will have 3 more dine-ins and 6 kiosks of 100 sq ft in Ayodhya in the future, he further added.

With a population of close to 35,000, Ayodhya has already undergone a major facelift and the Ayodhya Development Authority is expecting a footfall of three lakh tourists every day even before the inauguration of the Ram Temple.

"Ayodhya's emergence as a dining destination is strategically timed with the grand inauguration of the Ram Mandir, an event that has significantly elevated the city's profile on both national and international stages. This historic moment has drawn parallels with the culinary transformations witnessed in cities like Prayagraj and Varanasi, which have successfully blended their spiritual heritage with a vibrant food culture,” pointed Pulkit Arora, Director, CYK Hospitalities by adding that the target audience is diverse, encompassing not only the surge of devotees attending the Ram Mandir inauguration but also tourists and locals seeking a unique gastronomic experience. 

According to Biraja Rout, Founder, Biggies Burger, Ayodhya is going to be a market opportunity at a steady rate, to be five to six crores market including railway stations, airport and other high streets of the place. “I believe at this point of time Ayodhya has become the prime location of the whole country. As the tourism boom over there, which will attract almost a crore travellers every month, which is a huge number, it is definitely an important place of the country where we as an Indian brand catering to the Indian palette with western product, which is burger, will try to position ourselves,” he shared.

Catering to the Right Clientele

With the right awareness of Hinduism and religion being very particular, there are a lot of millennial people who are doing religious travels too. People are no more going only to destination based travel, but rather a lot of people are traveling to spiritual places like Varanasi and Ujjain. And it is not only the old age people, but young age crowd too are engaging in spiritual trips more than ever. “We are foreseeing to have a mix of crowds where I am not only looking at the age group of 50+ years, but rather there would be a lot of families with kids and the new age millennial crowd who are doing religious travels a lot. So I believe the crowd over there would be an absolutely cosmopolitan crowd, and we cannot limit it to only one category of crowd,” added Rout.