After a long period of stagnation for restaurants and people staying at home, Indians started dining out again and that has emerged as the most preferred activity in 2021 while accepting the new normal with fewer travel plans and reduced frequency in socialising activities. More than 45 million Indians loved eating out at their favourite restaurants. 8,588 tables were booked per hour on the Dineout app.

According to the latest Dineout Trends Report 2021, Dineout, ₹ 2,670 was the average bill paid in 2021 as compared to ₹ 1,907 in 2020. The 40 per cent increase in ATV is due to revenge eating phenomena and pent up dining out demands as it was the only source of entertainment for people in between multiple travel restrictions.

Furthermore, Delhi was crowned the “Dining Capital of India” for the 3rd time in a row accounting for 32 per cent of the total diners in India followed by Bangalore at 18 per cent. The dishes that were ordered the most were long term crowd favourites, Butter Chicken, Dal Makhni & Naan yet again won the league making North Indian food a hit among Indians at 38 per cent, Chinese at 18 per cent and Continental at 16 per cent. Udaipur, is the new “City of Love” with 44 per cent of its bookings under “Table for 2” whereas the cities of Agra and Ludhiana had the maximum “Table for 4” reservations.

Interestingly, as much as India loves its food it the country also has an equal number of alcohol enthusiasts. Bangalore consumed 50,000 litres of alcohol in the month of December alone making itself the Liquor capital of India in 2021. The report sheds light on the fact that dinner is the most preferred time to eat out by Indians. While the city of Agra loved to dine out during the night with 59.3 per cent reservations made for the dinner, it was surprising to know that diners in Chennai planned the most number of luncheons with 47% of table reservations done during lunch-time.

As a result of a higher disposable income as people continue to work from home, luxury dining across India has increased by as much as 120 per cent and fine dining by 105 per cent, and the average number of diners per booking has also risen.