Restaurant partners participating in the third essay of the Great Indian Restaurant Festival (GIRF), a month-long food festival that commenced in January 2019 and was organised by dineout, India’s leading dining out platform, generated a total GMV (gross merchandise value) of Rs 350 crore.
This year’s edition of the annual food festival witnessed an overwhelming response from consumers, wherein approximately 2.5 million diners participated, which was 2.5 times more as compared to its previous edition.
Over 80 per cent of these were aged between 18 and 34. This clearly showcased that Indian millennials were utilising dining out as a popular form of socialising and were open to experiencing various cuisines and deals.
dineout released interesting findings which showed that dining out wasn’t just for special occasions, it has become a way of life for India’s food connoisseurs. GIRF offered close to 65 per cent savings on bills, buffet, drinks (including alcohol) at 6,000-plus restaurants across 11 cities.
GIRF, whose theme was #MonthofMore, invited consumers to indulge in binge eating by offering more food, more discounts and more incredible dining out experiences. The festival also saw other interesting trends, wherein close to 13 per cent of consumers preferred dining out at cafés over pubs or bars. In fact, over 4.2 lakh people dined out on February 24, 2019, alone. That is more than the population of Iceland.
In terms of cities, Delhi topped the charts, with about 30 per cent of the total diners enjoyed meals and deals at GIRF. Mumbai and Bengaluru came a close second and third, respectively.
Some of the other interesting findings from the festival were:
Delhi had more appetite for pizzas than paranthas
Bengaluru leveraged happy hour deals the most during GIRF
Mumbai and Kolkata had the maximum consumption of noodles during GIRF
Delhiites saved about Rs 50 crore during GIRF, which is the spend of a big fat Indian wedding
“This year, GIRF has captured the imagination of millions of Indian foodies,” said Ankit Mehrotra, founder and chief executive officer, dineout.
“Indian millennials are increasingly discovering the pleasures of dining out and exploring cuisines from all over the world, and we are glad to play a pivotal role in this,” he added.
“We see a shift towards dining out experiences that bring them closer to friends and family. We look forward to offering foodies across the country more opportunities to combine their love for great deals with their passion for unique quality food and drinks,” Mehrotra said.
During the festival, dineout also ran several contests to offer foodies a chance to win free prizes and goodies and invited its consumers to share their best GIRF memories on Instagram and stand a chance to win OnePlus 6T every day.