Chennai stepped out on April 23. Not the usual visit to witness the magical sunrise at Marina, but to fall in queues outside polling booths. Chennaiites turned up in large numbers to cast their vote, get their fingers inked, marking participation. By midday, as the sun grew harsher, the lines outside booths only got longer. Alongside these queues, another kind began to take shape: outside cafés and eateries.
For those who stepped in with inked fingers, discounted menus and small rewards greeted them. At Moffe in Nungambakkam, what began as a social media idea quickly turned into something far bigger. “We were sold out by 4.30 pm. This has never happened before,” says Fathima Tasneem, owner of the cafe. She learnt that most eateries were shut for the day and took this opportunity to add value to her brand by offering three beverages, including a vanilla thick shake and an iced latte, alongside all desserts, priced at `99. The timing, between 1 pm and 6 pm, was meant to catch the post-voting crowd. “We basically wanted people to vote and this offer was meant to encourage them,” she adds.
What Tasneem didn’t anticipate was the scale of the response. Peak rush. Selling 350 desserts and drinks within hours of opening the space. And people are still asking for more. The turnout was rewarding, since Moffe is only three months old, and gaining loyal customers.
While this was the first for Moffe, a few brands have been circulating such special offers for a couple of times now. For Aaladipattiyan, this wasn’t the first experiment with election-day engagement. Founder and managing director Moses Dharmabalan says the brand had tried a similar initiative during the 2024 general elections. “People usually just vote and leave. But this time, we wanted to give them something small in return,” he says.
The brand offered a 20 per cent discount on bills for those who voted. From a business standpoint, the results were encouraging. Despite the discount, the chain store recorded an additional 30 per cent in sales compared to a non-voting day. “We based it on a few factors — marketing exposure and the fact that even if we operated at lower or no profit for these two days, it wouldn’t cause major losses,” he explains.
The idea was as much about community as it was about commerce. “People did not just come in, drink coffee, and leave. The shops became a platform for election conversation,” Moses notes. The demographic they catered to on the day was families.
Another popular homegrown business, BurgerMan, which rolls out BOGO (Buy One, Get One) sale on days of national importance — Independence and Republic Day — joined this bandwagon. For them, the voting discount was an extension of an existing pattern. “This time, we thought of a voting campaign to build our brand, to want people to go vote and reward good citizens,” notes Rehan Osman, brand and marketing head. With a significant portion of their audience comprising younger, first-time voters, the timing felt right. “A lot of the voting population this year is the target audience of our brand as well,” he shares.
BurgerMan curated `99 menu featuring some of its most popular items — burgers, sides, drinks, and coolers. Rehan explains that the response exceeded expectations. “The footfall superseded what we anticipated. We were quite overwhelmed with the turnout.”
What emerges from these varied experiences is a pattern that blends civic participation with everyday habit. Discounts and offers may have drawn people in, but they also created spaces for voting and voters being the topic of discussion.
Whether it was a sold-out dessert counter, a burger meal priced for accessibility, or a coffee shop doubling up as a conversation hub, these food joints formed a network of citizens coming together over their shared sense of participation in nation building.