Sunday, December 22

40,000 Crores Service Industry Found a Aggregator Platform Foodcentral, Founded by IIT Kanpur Alumni

The world is changing faster than ever. And with every change comes an opportunity for people to come together for one reason or the other. There are countless social gatherings possible, personal or professional. And with every possible social gathering, it becomes imminent for somebody to host the gathering.

The catering services industry in India has been consistently growing at the annual growth rate of 15 to 20 percent and in 2016, is expected to attain the worth of INR 40,000 crore.

One good thing about the Indian catering industry is that despite the tumbling stock market and recessive economy, it didn’t have a direct impact. You may ask why? Well, since it is not directly related to how the market behaves, it is more of a personal thing than strict business.

The catering segment in India is mainly dominated by unorganized players, many of who run their business from the small back of the house units or small establishments. But in recent years, the scenario is seeing rapid evolutions and a lot of organized operators comprising international catering companies and big restaurant chains have also started taking catering seriously. Also, there are many startup companies who are trying to aggregate the restaurants to supply food mainly to the needs of the individual customers or a small group of people to celebrate for one reason or the other.

On the consumer front, With the changing needs and lifestyles of consumers, global as well as Indian food consumption patterns are rapidly evolving. Increased mobility, exposure, aspirations and availability of a substantially wider range and products are all contributing to this market shift. Catering is no more limited to weddings and birthday parties in the country. Here are some of the contributors that explain why the catering industry is ever growing.

 

Ever Growing Interest

 

In any Indian family ceremony, senior members of the families were usually involved in making the arrangements during the day of the event. Now, with increased awareness of the availability of professional catering services and decorators, this trend is changing. This also gives them an opportunity to enjoy the function as well.

 

Interest in Regional Cuisines

 

2

Roughly a decade ago, in the absence of professional catering service providers or a lack of awareness of such professionals, any event taking place in a family used to contain delicacies belong to that region alone. For example, any south Indian family function having Punjabi cuisines would have been unheard of in that time. But, slowly with more and more people hosting such events, a mix of all kinds of delicacies (both Indian and European), are increasingly being present in such events. And this scenario is, fortunately, going to go viral in future.

 

Corporate Catering

 

3

The corporate catering market is highly fragmented in India, which includes a handful of international and organized players. With a rise in Indian IT employment and an increase in foreign companies setting up base in India, Corporate catering within these companies, and events outside in professionally managed convention centers and banquet halls is on the rise. MNCs also stress on stringent safety norms in their own day-to-day businesses and expect the same from their outsourced food partners as well. This trend is also increasing in larger schools and colleges and hospitals. Schools and Colleges require specific kids related food on a daily basis and Hospitals typically require specific food as suggested by a nutritionist from the hospital.

 

Catering Institutes

 

6

The hospitality industry has boomed in India in the past decade. Hotel management as a career has took off among students and as a result, there has been a spur in the hotel management colleges all over the country. Most of these colleges have come up in Tier II cities and educational hubs like Pune, Bangalore & Delhi and offer good infrastructures along with strong alliances in the industry. Tie-ups with big and medium players in the hotel and catering industry help in getting good placements for the students. This helps in consolidating the catering industry and produces professionals with better management capabilities and quality catering offerings to the end customers.

In addition to the above reasons for growth of the catering industry, increased government regulation and stress on quality and safety would lead to a preference for organized players. It is quite clear that the catering scenario in India is only getting competitive, riding on various factors that is propelling its growth. And this spells good news for the end consumer who is going to get good quality hygienic food at a very well structured price.

 

Catering Aggregation – One small step towards consolidation and increase in organized catering

Launched in September 2015, when FoodCentral started their operations, it was supposed to be an online food delivery company similar to a host of other such startups, but after the founders tweaked their business model to solve the problem of the un-organized catering business and build a platform to put best of the best caterers on their platform, did they start to see some traction building up.

Founded by an IIT Kanpur alumni, the company currently has a capable operations team who is always on the field trying to convince various individual customers and business establishments to use their services. первый займ без комиссиибыстрый займ через интернет на картуглав займ