New Delhi: Three months after the government allowed restaurants to open under ‘Unlock 1.0’, 34 per cent Indians said they would like to eat restaurant food in the next two months but mostly via home delivery, according to a survey.
The survey was conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform and pollster on governance issues, with about 33,000 participants across 240 districts in India.
Out of the 34 per cent, 22 per cent said they have no plans to visit a restaurant but will opt for home delivery a few times and 3 per cent said they will opt for home delivery several times.
Another 3 per cent said they plan to visit restaurants many times while 6 per cent said they plan to visit restaurants just a few times.
As much as 64 per cent Indians said they wouldn’t visit a restaurant, nor order food home in the next two months.
Restaurants had been shut for dining for over 60 days with only delivery allowed, after the nationwide lockdown was announced on 24 March to curb the spread of Covid-19.
According to a survey conducted last month, India’s online food delivery industry has recovered 75 to 80 per cent of pre-Covid sales. However, dine-in restaurants recovered just 8 to 10 per cent.
Also read: Delhi govt allows hotels, restaurants and clubs to serve alcohol from 9 September
55% Indians will not buy from food trucks
The survey also found that 28 per cent of Indians said they consumed food from restaurants in the past two months.
Of this, 21 per cent said they did so by ordering food using home delivery apps like Swiggy and Zomato.
During the pandemic, food trucks have also started to crop up across the country, from a mobile food stall selling burgers in Nagaland to Domino’s Pizza stationing food trucks in societies across Gurgaon, Noida, Bengaluru and other cities.
However, 55 per cent of respondents to the survey said they wouldn’t buy food even if their favourite eatery came to their colony or society. Only 28 per cent said they would purchase food from a food truck, while 17 per cent were unsure.
Out of those who said they would opt for restaurant food, 46 per cent said they would order Indian food, 11 per cent were keen on international cuisine, 6 per cent said they would choose fast food and 14 per cent preferred sweets or bakery items.
Of the 33,000 participants in the survey, 61 per cent were men and 39 per cent were women. Fifty three per cent were from Tier-1 cities, 32 per cent from Tier-2 and 15 per cent respondents from Tier-3, Tier-4 and rural districts.
Also read: Open kitchens, hygiene perception & plexiglass: How restaurants might remodel post-Covid
The hurdles to open any business in India are mind-boggling, it gives a feeling that the government does not want you to do anything, the rules and regulations are are made in way to put deterrence for the entrepreneur.
Every step leads you to a door saying “licence” and a person inside who is put there to create problems or send you to another door, so who would want to open any kind of small business or anything here, one has to be realistic.