Hundreds of restaurants, pubs to open in metros, tier II, III cities

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It’s food for the palate as well as for the economy. A veritable explosion of eateries and watering holes – restaurants, pubs, bars and cloud kitchens – are waiting to pleasantly shock the gastronomes in metropolitan cities and tier II-III towns for the New Year.

“We will be opening 18 outlets in this quarter across New Delhi, Kolkata, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the Delhi- Mumbai Expressway (area),” Sanjeev Agarwal, chairman of MMG Group and McDonald’s India North and East, told The Economic Times. Between January and December 2022, this chain opened as many as 19 outlets.

The MMG Group works as the master franchisee for McDonald’s in the north and east. Quick service restaurants are the forte of this MNC brand that in known for burgers and fries.

Entrepreneurs told the newspaper that they are merely catering to zooming demand which is easily the highest they have seen since the pandemic.

“We are expecting our best-ever December this year as we foresee a major uptick in demand. Our growth will include a combination of cloud kitchens and company-owned and franchised dine-in outlets,” said Zorawar Kalra. Kalra is the founder of Massive Restaurants which owns brands such as Farzi Cafe, Masala Library and Bo Tai.

Kalra is hopeful that they would witness “record high” business by the end of this year. Buoyant demand has prompted him to plan launching as many as 30 cloud kitchens this quarter. He has chosen Raipur, Bhopal and Chennai to open new restaurants.

In Kolkata, a city known for eating out, droves are eating stuff that’s not cooked in their own kitchen. During the six days of the Durga puja, eateries in Kolkata made businesses of about Rs 1,100 crore, said Sudesh Poddar, president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Eastern India. It needs to be pointed out that this figure does not include the street food fest that goes on at virtually every street and lane of the city during the puja.

Around 150 new restaurants are likely to spring up in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in the next three months, according to Pranav Rungta, co- founder and director of Nksha restaurant. Rungta is also the Mumbai chapter head of National Restaurant Association of India.

About 100 restaurants are likely to start business in Delhi-NCR in the next 90 days, said Essex Farms director Sandeep Anand Goyle. He also leads the Delhi chapter of NRAI.

The eating out fever is spreading fast even beyond the metro cities. Tier II-III cities such as Indore, Dehradun and Chandigarh are witnessing a surge of activities and investment in this sector, said Riyaaz Amlani, founder and managing director of Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality.

“We intend to penetrate deeper in markets where we already exist, and enter cities that we are not currently in. Our immediate focus for expansion remains on Kolkata, Goa, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Faridabad by the end of this year. We are launching Park Street Social in Kolkata soon,” said Amlani. Though the dine-in at the Russel Street address in Kolkata would start after the launch party on November 2, Amlani did not wait to throw open the kitchen which is already serving customers for take away, says an Instagram post.

The demand is triggering numerous investments. Prasuk Jain, a restaurateur who set up Snow World Entertainment is launching cocktail bars Emily and Speak Easy at Waterfield Road in Mumbai. He is also opening several restaurants in Pune and the nation’s capital. Jain in investing Rs 80 crore this quarter alone and hiring more than 500 employees in his outlets.

Food delivery platforms confirm the trend. A Zomato spokesperson admitted a year-on-year increase in new business listings. Swiggy vice-president and national business head Sidharth Bhakoo said the platform is busy tying up with thousands of restaurants and food entrepreneurs to cater to the galloping demand this festive season. “We’ve seen a consistent increase in new restaurant onboarding, both in the metros and in smaller cities,” said Bhakoo.

The IT capital of the country that sports a big young and upwardly mobile population is also preparing for a slew of launches. September and October witnessed relatively slow activity in this city since many kept travelling during long weekends, owners of restaurants are warming up to the hope of December festivities. Chethan Hegde, founder of the 1522 chain of pubs said the city is recording a rise in launches. He is himself launching two pubs in Bengaluru and one in Mumbai.

“About 20-25 outlets in the city are in different stages of completion. People wanted to be sure there was not another Covid wave before opening,” said Hegde.