Advantage biryani

At a time when online food ordering has become the new normal for millennials and working couples, piping hot biryani has come out of the oven in a big way, emerging as the most-loved comfort food across Metros and suburbs in the country.

Like the way pizza and burger orders flourished, online food delivery platforms have now crowned biryani as the king of most-craved dishes. “Compared to 2017, there was a whopping 681 per cent increase in biryani orders on Swiggy in 2018 — that is one biryani ordered every 3.5 seconds,” said a source from an online food delivery platform.

While pizzas, burgers and cakes were the most searched food items last year, chicken biryani remained the most ordered dish during festivals, lunches, dinners, snack time and late-night slots across the country. Witnessing the growing demand, opening a biryani house is one of the top choices for entrepreneurs who wish to invest in food start-ups. Often priced by the kilo, the delicacy is served by big hotel chains, quick-serve restaurants , Cloud kitchens as well as take-away joints— categorised in over 10 regional variations and the most popular ones being Hyderabadi, Lucknowi, Calcutta, Malabari, Bombay and Awadhi.

According to Sagar Kochhar, chief marketing officer (CMO), Rebel Foods which is the parent company of Behrouz — India’s largest online biryani brand — biryani consumers have become a lot more extreme in terms of preferences.

“They want to indulge in great food experiences and they do not eat just with the purpose of filling their bellies,” Kochhar said. Since fresh biryanis come in larger quantities, it is often ordered in bulk at workplaces, parties and events as a total value-for-money cuisine. “Biryani, influenced by the Persian culture, allows people to indulge in gastronomy to savour the relationship between food and culture,” Kochhar added. With versatile cooking techniques and personalised presentations, the convenience of online food ordering mediums have filled in the blank that once lay in between street-side biryani places and home-cooked options, with several new choices.—IANS