As a country largely dominated by a population that loves to eat out, India definitely felt the pangs of unfulfilled food-cravings when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
Despite numerous attempts at becoming gourmet chefs at home, most of them being successful, people craved for that ‘bahar ka khaana’.
Hesitant and scared, people refrained from eating outside until there was a guarantee of safety standards being taken care of.
Enter technology — the answer to all the problems arising out of the need to feel safe and secure.
Let’s take a few steps back to understand the Indian consumer-
Price sensitivity and bargaining is drilled into the Indian consumer’s mind when it comes to making a purchase. Consequently, high delivery charges and inflated pricing on delivery apps do not bode well with them.
Another interesting observation is their instinctive preference to go out for meals whether for dine-in or take-away that saves them the inflated charges they have to pay on delivery.
Most of the Indian working population is on the move and hence prefers to dine or buy a take-away meal during the course of the day.
Constantly traveling from one place to another has made India the world’s largest market for two-wheelers that are both convenient as well as time-saving. This in turn makes the Indian consumers naturally inclined towards eating on-the-go and choosing take-away over delivery.
Taking a cue from the global surge in food delivery, especially in countries like China and the USA, Indian investors made an attempt to grow the same in India too by pumping funds into food-delivery platforms. However, what they did not realize was the stark difference in the Indian and other global markets pertaining to the preference for take-away over delivery. While food delivery does thrive well in India, the equally large take-away market cannot be ignored and the present scenario has given the industry a wonderful chance to grow its focus on this segment.
Safety while eating from restaurants is the most important demand of every consumer which gives digitization the perfect cue to make a ground-breaking impact in the Food and Beverage industry. Digitization of food menus and inclusion of online payment methods remove the risk of being exposed to infections when using printed menus or cash. As much as it benefits the customer in terms of convenience and safety, it puts restaurants in a gainful position too. Meaningful product placements, high-quality graphic images, customer reviews and highlights of best-sellers make menus more dynamic and attractive to the customers. This has contributed to a significant increase in the average order value for restaurants by removing customer dependencies on staff assistance.
Restaurants are understanding the customer’s need to reestablish their trust and the employees’ need to feel safe in their work environment and hence are willing to adapt to newer technologies to move with the times.
COVID-19 in all its gloom, has brought in a silver lining for the Food and Beverage industry to make a shift from traditional methods to digital ones. It is acting as a powerful catalyst to enable the transition into the digital world at a faster pace. Necessity being the driving force in this scenario, restaurants are now becoming more open and willing to experiment with and adopt newer technologies to serve their customers better.
It has given the Food and Beverage industry the push that was needed to let technology step in and optimize the face of the entire ecosystem of this industry.
Digitization of the customers’ food ordering process right from placing contactless orders ahead of time to making cashless payments will make the entire process more time-saving and convenient- a crucial prerequisite of the Indian consumer.
Not shifting to the latest methods and technologies would be as good as using a landline phone in the age of smartphones that does nothing but hamper your productivity and efficiency.
This is the ideal time to take the plunge and reap the benefits that technology can offer to the food industry.
‘It is not a new habit formation but a helping hand in a pre-existing habit’
- Mainak Sarkar, Co-Founder at Eatable, talking about how digitisation can tap the existing take-away market of India.
Technology can make a significant contribution in the revival and growth of the Food and Beverage industry in India and this is the right time to unleash the true potential of the combination of food and technology in India’s take-away dominant market.
