At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the adoption of food delivery platforms, a biryani was ordered more than once every second in 2020, according to the fifth edition of Swiggy’s annual StatEATstics analysis. The orders include different biryani varieties such as vegetarian, chicken, mutton or aloo.
The StatEATstics order analysis is based on millions of orders received by Swiggy, India’s largest food ordering and leading on-demand delivery platform, between January and December 2020. Over 300,000 new users made their Swiggy debut by ordering in a chicken biryani. However, its vegetarian counterpart did not have the same luck. For every veg biryani, there were six chicken biryani orders.
“The mighty chicken biryani reaffirmed its place as India’s favourite dish,” says the report.
While Swiggy delivered 5 times as many orders to ‘Home’ addresses compared to ‘Work’ addresses between January and March, that number rose to 9 times as many Home orders vs. Work orders in April and May. Dishes like paneer butter masala, masala dosa, chicken fried rice and mutton biryani continued to be India’s favourite pick-me-up dishes.
Perhaps missing their office cappuccinos and masala chais while working from home, thousands of Swiggy users fought the post-lunch slump by ordering in varieties of tea and coffee. Swiggy also delivered over 200,000 pani puri orders post-lockdown.
Since launching in August, Swiggy HealthHub, a curation of healthy food items on Swiggy has grown exponentially in cities like Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
The users in the National Capital Region (NCR) ordered the healthiest meals. The users in Bengaluru showed a high resolve to get healthy - at 130 per cent. The city saw the highest increase in healthy food orders on Swiggy HealthHub.
Supergrains emerged as India’s favourite way to get healthy with a 127 per cent increase in orders for dishes based on them. It was followed by Vegan (50 per cent increase) high-protein dishes (49 per cent) and keto-friendly items (46 per cent).
People ate an average of 342 calories for dinner. Lunches ranged at under 350 calories, while breakfast, the day’s most important meal, saw people consume an average of 427 calories.
For those who chose not to order in but cook themselves, Swiggy delivered over 160,000 meal kits via Instamart. It gave them the restaurant dining experience in the comfort of their homes.
Swiggy delivered over 75,000 kgs of onion. This is the most ordered item on Swiggy Instamart till now. Besides that other kitchen essentials like potatoes, bananas, coriander leaves and milk were also ordered.
Forgotten keys, chargers, jackets and spectacles were the most common tasks in pre-pandemic for Swiggy Genie. Post lockdown, Swiggy’s pick-up and drop service Genie which is present in over 65 cities, delivered daily essentials and food. These products included snacks and books to parents juggling remote work and their kids’ online school sessions, and even rakhis and chocolates during Raksha Bandhan.
Home-cooked food was one of the most ferried items in 2020, as people reached out to help elderly relatives, friends and colleagues struggling without help. A rising interest in baking also meant a lot of people were swapping goodies and organising socially-distant potlucks. “We received over 120,000 food-related tasks on Swiggy Genie,” says the report. “Our shortest delivery request came in from someone in Bangalore and spanned a meagre 600 meters to collect an empty water can from their home and exchange it for a full one at the store.”
Cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai turned to Swiggy Genie the most for food and daily essentials. Kolkata found itself a place in the top three cities for the delivery of medicines and Covid essentials.
India’s meat of choice was chicken with over 600,000 kgs ordered on Swiggy. Rohu and Catla (cut Bengali Style,) were the most popular fish orders. Bengaluru emerged as the most meat-loving city, according to the report.
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