Organized sector to drive India's food services market 60% higher by 2030: report

New Delhi: India’s food services industry is set to surpass $120-125 billion by 2030, marking around 60% absolute growth from $78 billion in 2025, according to the Kearney-Swiggy ‘How India Eats 2025’ report, released on Thursday. This growth will be led by rising incomes, digital adoption and expanding supply chains that are reshaping how the country eats, the report added.

The organized segment—led by cloud kitchens, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) and café chains—is expected to double and even overtake the unorganized sector by the end of the decade, expanding at a 12-14% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) compared to 5-7% for unorganized players.

The organized sector’s share of the overall market in terms of value stood at 35-40% in 2019, and 45-50% in 2025. It’s expected to increase to 55% by 2030, according to the report.

This expansion will be led by a sustained rise in disposable incomes, a young, urban consumer base that prefers convenience, and aggregator-led innovations that have increased the speed of deliveries and expanded their reach.

The report points to key growth drivers including the emergence of late-night deliveries, quick deliveries, greater demand for health food, and consumers’ interest in experimenting with a greater variety of cuisines.

Cloud kitchens surge

Various segments of the market are expected to have differing growth rates going forward. Cloud kitchens—currently 2% of the organized food services sector—are expected to grow the fastest at 32-37% annually over the coming years, driven by digital ordering and delivery-led consumption. It’s followed by categories such as dessert & ice-cream parlours, which are expected to grow between 14-16% annually, QSRs (15-17%), and casual dining (10-11%), which are also projected to expand steadily as consumers seek convenience alongside indulgence.

Meanwhile, the more traditional dine-in formats—fine dining (11–13%), cafés (10–11%), and pubs/bars (9–10%)—are expected to grow at moderate but stable rates. Currently, casual dining formats account for the largest share of the organized food services industry at 49%.

Late-night cravings

Late night orders are surging in India, with food delivery now available round-the-clock in more than 700 cities, marking a structural shift in mealtimes among younger consumers.

Late-night food consumption is defined as orders made between 11 pm and 6 am. These have grown nearly three times faster than dinner orders over 2022-2025, making this the country’s fastest-growing mealtime.

“Your evening snacking has become an extension of lunch, and dinner has become a late-night meal. For young India, eating a momo at 9 pm still counts as snacking,” said Sagar Daryani, co-founder of Wow! Momo Foods.

Quick-delivery formats such as Swiggy’s Bolt are accelerating this shift. Nearly 20% of all restaurants listed on Swiggy are now listed on Bolt, which promises 10-minute deliveries. Rival Zepto offers quick deliveries of tea, coffee and snacks through Zepto Cafe, which has scaled back operations of late, citing weak demand and greater resource allocation to its core quick-commerce business.

Health kick

Despite the rise in indulgent, late-night meals, Indian consumers are also becoming more health-conscious. Healthy meals that are rich in protein, free of sugar and low in calories, including vegan meals, are expanding at 2.3 times the pace of overall orders. Searches for health-related categories on Swiggy have also surged, with terms such as “low calorie” and “no added sugar” emerging as top searches on the platform, the report said.

Aggregators are taking note of this. In September, Eternal (Zomato), launched a ‘health mode’ on its food delivery app. Swiggy introduced a ‘high protein’ category in July as well as a ‘no added sugar’ category in select markets.

Broader tastes

Indian consumers are also experimenting more with different cuisines. The report said there has been 20% growth in the number of unique cuisines ordered per customer in the past four years.

While Mughlai food continues to dominate order volumes, niche cuisines such as Bihari, Goan, Naga and Pahari are growing between two and eight times faster than mainstream Indian cuisines.

India’s culinary landscape is also going global, albeit with a disproportionate Asian influence. Orders for Korean dishes have grown 17-fold between 2022 and 2025, while Vietnamese and Mexican dishes have grown 6-fold and 3.7-fold, respectively. Japanese food is also catching on quickly.

Rajat Tuli, Partner, F&B lead and QSR Asia lead at Kearney, said, "Two trends are emerging rapidly. First, consumers are exploring India’s cultural heritage, with hyperlocal cuisines such as Goan, Bihari and Naga growing much faster than standard north and south Indian meals, which have traditionally been staples. The second trend is the rise of global cuisines, with more consumers seeking out Korean, Japanese, Mexican and Vietnamese food. They are fast approaching the level of staples and are no longer niche.”