Restaurants Slowly Inching Back To Pre-COVID-19 Level

Photograph: Suprakash Mishra

New Delhi: Food industry sales have bounced back to 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Customers are reportedly increasingly going to restaurants, even though home delivery remains the bulk of the order for a good number of people.

According to a report published in the LiveMint, restaurant chains in Indore, Punjab, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have made great comebacks. Outlets in Mumbai, Delhi are slowly inching back to normalcy.

Wow! Momo, a quick-serve chain, is reportedly back to 70 per cent sales of pre-pandemic numbers, a big jump from the 90 per cent drop in April. The momo chain says that delivery and takeaway are still a large part of the business and dine-in is still not preferred by customers.

The story is a bit different for coffee chain Barista, which is seeing higher than pre-pandemic numbers in non-metros. This can be attributed to reverse migration according to the same report. The 250-odd chain is back to 80 per cent of pre-covid level and dine-in is the major part of the business. Delivery accounts for less than 10 per cent of Barista bulk order.

Big restaurants, which runs fine dining and casual dining restaurants such as Farzi Cafe, Pa Pa Ya and Bo-Tai, are looking to start a delivery-only brand. While the business is promising in Hyderabad, Indore and Bengaluru, it is lagging in Gurugram, where corporates are the major drivers.