60% of restaurants in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru on high streets: CBRE

Almost 60 per cent of restaurants in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru are located on high-street markets due to limited supply of quality space in malls and scope for organic expansion, according to a survey by property consultant CBRE.

Nearly 82 per cent of the restaurants in these three cities are domestic standalone outlet/chains, while the rest 18 per cent restaurants being of international origin.

"Indian cuisine still dominates the country's taste palette with a 24 per cent share, followed by multi-cuisine with a 22 per cent share," CBRE survey found out.

These are the main findings of CBRE India's survey conducted among more than 1,200 restaurants in key locations of Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The survey was conducted to get a better insight into the operation dynamics of these food and beverage (F&B) operators.

"Increasing globalisation, growing exposure to international trends and cuisines have led to India's food and beverage segment going through a transformation in recent years. This evolution is positively impacting the real estate sector as well with allocation for restaurant spaces going up in high streets and organised retail developments," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE.

In its report 'Food for Thought', the consultant said increasing urbanisation, rising disposable incomes and trends of socialising, nuclear families, and growing consumerism have redefined the way urban India's population dines.

"Almost 60 per cent of the restaurants were located on high streets vis-a-vis 29 per cent in malls. This is largely due to favourable rentals on high-streets, organic expansion opportunities and limited availability of quality space in malls," the report said.

In Delhi, Khan Market and Connaught Place (CP) are famous high streets.

CBRE said that the global as well as domestic operators have redefined their offerings and have gone all out to attract the average Indian diner.

"In terms of nationality, almost82 per cent of the restaurants were domestic standalone outlet/chains with around 18 per cent restaurants being of international origin. US-based restaurants accounted for almost 70 per cent of the restaurants in the international category," the report said.

While 62 per cent of all international restaurants are located in malls, 68 per cent of all domestic restaurants are located on high streets.

Asian cuisine and cafes are the 3rd and 4th preferred choices of diners. Other cuisines including Mexican, Mediterranean, Lebanese and Arabian are gaining significant traction among consumers. Indian cuisine offerings too are evolving with restaurants specialising in Oriya, Bengali, North Eastern, Tibetan, Chettinad and Awadhi cuisine.

CBRE South Asia Head (Retail Services India) Vivek Kaul said: "Today we are seeing more space being allocated for F&B in malls, the emergence of dedicated F&B clusters, food festivals taking place, F&B pop ups, and increased allocations in commercial buildings for F&B".