With market open, mobility and reopening offices, hotels and restaurants and the increase in travel and social events, consumption of packaged food outside homes has bounced back suddenly since August.
The recovery after the second wave has been faster than the first one, which saw a steady restoration in such products. Companies said sales of consumer packs of salty snacks, ice-cream and other ready-to-eat products expanded 10-30% in August compared with the same month in 2019, while institutional sales to hotels, restaurants and caterers (HoReCa) have reached almost 80% of pre-Covid levels. Marketers are confident the latter will return to 100% levels this month.
As per Bizom, which tracks the sales of 7.5 million retail stores across the country, sales of ready-to-eat products surged 9.1% in August from July. Ready-to-cook grew 6.7%, indicating higher out-of-home consumption.
During Covid waves, the ready-to-cook segment rose by 4% as people remained indoors, but as mobility and travel increases, the is a rise in sales of ready-to-eat products as snacking on the go is the key behaviour driving sales.
Sales of ice-creams, snacks and food products in the HoReCa segment started growing in January, nearly six months after the first wave last year but tapered off at the end of March due to second-wave lockdowns.
With more and more people getting vaccinated and increased general awareness about Covid protocols, people are less paranoid, and there is positive consumer and trade sentiment. Like sales of ITC packaged snacks have risen 12-15% over pre-Covid levels, that of Parle Products is up 10-12%. India’s largest dairy products brand Amul has seen ice-cream sales grow over 30% in August from the same month in 2019.
Adani’s sales grew nearly 40% for the food service segment that caters to HoReCa. Sales of chips, western snacks, and chocolates have all grown over pre-Covid. Lots more people are stepping out now than ever since Covid, and shops too have opened completely.
Wholesaler Metro Cash and Carry India said there has been up to 60% recovery in the HoReCa segment from pre-Covid levels. Yet, there has been an exponential growth of over 400% in the cloud kitchen business in the last one year adding demand is robust for institutional ready-to-cook products such as sauces and curries. Rice sale has been growing every month since July with September witnessing the highest growth. Edible oil has grown even faster which essentially means things are almost normal for these segments. For Amul, HoReCa has reached almost 80% of pre-Covid levels and going by the demand from restaurants in big cities, it will reach 100% this month itself.