BENGALURU: Yet another pulsating cricket season has concluded, and Bengaluru has emerged at the top spot among cities that saw maximum food orders placed during match days. According to online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy, namma ooru was followed by Mumbai and Chennai at the second and third position, respectively.
The top 10 dishes ordered during IPL were Chicken Biryani, Butter Naan, Masala Dosa, Paneer Butter Masala, Chicken Fried Rice, Tandoori Roti, Veg Fried Rice, Mutton Biryani, Garlic Breadsticks, and Tandoori Chicken.
While pizzas were a favourite match-time snack for folks in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune, people in Bengaluru, Lucknow and Kolkata binged on kababs. The top 10 appetisers were Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Lollipop, Chilli Chicken, Chicken Tandoori, Pepper Barbecue Chicken, Paneer Tikka, Chicken Tikka, Indi Tandoori Paneer, Veg Manchurian Dry, and Hot Chicken Wings.
For Jiyo Bangali, a cloud kitchen in Indiranagar, one of the biggest sellers during the IPL was biryani. Their Kolkata style biryani with egg, chicken, and mutton variations was ordered a lot. “The IPL timing helped as it was either dinner time for people who prefer an early dinner or snack time for the ones who have a leisurely dinner later,” says Joy Sarkar, manager, adding that their IPL snacks combo featuring chops, cutlets, samosas did quite well. “This kind of food is also good to have as a family, easy to pass around or as a one-bowl meal without the fuss with many curries and gravy items,” he says.
Agrees Ranveer Sabhani, business head, South, Impresario Handmade Restaurants, which includes Social. “Our biryanis were the top sellers during the cricket season. Bangalore is a value-based audience, hence one-dish meals and cluster meal orderings have seen better traction. We did see a spike in the sale of finger foods during day-time matches, and around evening hours with our munchies and pre-made cocktail mixers that proved to be a hit. Given the match timings of 7.30 pm, customers were ordering early dinners,” he says.
Work from home has led people to “home food fatigue” and they are looking to order in more, according to Amit Nanwani, co-founder, Samosa Party. “Thanks to an e-commerce ecosystem and a tech-savvy population, the delivery market herehas recovered pretty fast. People are craving indulgent yet hygienic food these days,” he says, pointing out that during IPL, they sold over 2 lakh samosas. “This is twice of what we sold during last year’s IPL. It’s probably because samosa is a shareable and democratic food, making it a unanimous choice for get-togethers where all generations enjoy this snack,” Nanwani says.