The menu gets bigger: After metros, top restaurants enter new markets

Lower rents, better margins, rising aspiration, and greater purchasing power are fuelling a new trend in India’s food and beverage (F&B) sector: The expansion of reputed restaurants to non-metros.

 

As diners in these cities demand high-quality, experiential offerings, major hospitality players are moving beyond metros -- such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Chennai -- to tap into fresh markets with smart strategies and renewed focus.

 

Earlier this year, Delhi-based Bright Hospitality launched its restaurant, IKK Panjab, in Chandigarh, marking not just an expansion but a cultural statement. The launch was accompanied by the announcement of its intellectual property (IP), The Heritage Gathering, which brings together music and performance arts from undivided Punjab. Its inaugural event featured a baithak with musicologist and singer Sunaini Sharma, granddaughter of the legendary Surinder Kaur, the “nightingale of Punjab”.

 

Dining today isn’t just about food — it’s about the experience and the story, says Rajan Sethi, co-founder of Bright Hospitality, which also runs brands such as AMPM, Espresso Anyday, Omo, and GT Road. Later this year, AMPM and Espresso Anyday will also debut in Chandigarh. Besides this, Sethi’s team is planning cocktail bars, Irani cafés, upscale coffee-forward spaces, and pizza shops across smaller cities.

 

According to the National Restaurant Association of India, the Indian food services industry is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 8.1 per cent, reaching Rs 7.76 trillion by 2028 from Rs 5.69 trillion in 2023. While tier 1 cities continue to lead, the growth from non-metro cities is becoming increasingly important.

 

A short walk from IKK Panjab is Olive Café and Bar, a venture by hospitality veteran AD Singh. Opened just over two years ago, it was the Olive Group’s first franchised restaurant. “After nearly three decades in metros like Delhi and Mumbai, we felt it was time to take Olive’s quality to a new audience,” says Singh, managing director of the Olive Group, which runs restaurants such as Guppy, Monkey Bar, Fatty Bao, and the Grammar Room. 

 

Olive Café and Bar’s expansion reflects this confidence. In Chandigarh, the outlet spans 7,000 sq ft. In Ludhiana, where it opened recently, the restaurant occupies two floors and echoes a Mediterranean design, its facade inspired by Santorini.

 

Singh reckons that cities such as Bhopal, Indore, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Lucknow, and Dehradun are among several destinations the F&B sector is waiting to tap.

 

Players like Theobroma, Burma Burma, Café Delhi Heights, Farzi Café, and Harajuku Tokyo Café are among those extending their footprint to non-metros — and even going global, marking their presence in Southeast Asia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and so on. While Harajuku Tokyo Café, a Japan-inspired quick service restaurant (QSR) brand, launched in New Delhi in 2021, has expanded into cities such as Pune and Chandigarh, besides metros like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, others are following suit.

 

For Anant Kataria, co-founder, Big Fat Hospitality, besides Goa, places such as Pune, Jaipur, and Indore are among those under consideration for the company’s expansion.

 

Some are tapping into tourist-heavy destinations. Café Delhi Heights, which plans to open 10 new outlets annually and reach 120 outlets by 2028, recently expanded to Goa and Srinagar (besides Hyderabad), while maintaining a presence in Ludhiana, Lucknow, Chandigarh, and Dehradun. 

Ciclo Cafe in Puducherry is an 80-cover café in a heritage house that was also shown in Life of Pi

 

Lessons from the trenches 

Despite having multiple brands, many restaurateurs are choosing to focus their expansion efforts around one marquee name. Researching markets for up to 2.5 years before launch, they aim for sustainable growth over quick rollouts.

 

Going with one brand helps build loyalty, says Ankit Gupta, co-founder of Burma Burma, while running too many brands can dilute focus. It is better to scale up what works, he adds. Burma Burma plans to reach 24 locations by mid-2026, and will enter international markets such as the UAE and London. Its parent company, Hunger Pangs, is eyeing an IPO between mid- to end-2027.

 

Not all expansions have, however, been smooth.

 

Ashish Thadani of Ciclo Café (pronounced Chick-lo; Spanish for ‘cycle’), which earlier operated in Hyderabad, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, admits those experiences taught him “what not to do”. Operational missteps, a split with partner TI Cycles, and the pandemic forced a course correction for the bicycling-theme café.

 

“We’ve spent the last few years building infrastructure to support 10–15 cafés,” says Thadani. Currently operating four outlets in Chennai, the brand recently opened in Puducherry’s historic House of Upasana, which was featured in Life of Pi as Pi’s childhood home. Thadani is exploring cities like Coimbatore, Madurai, Vellore, and Ooty. “Purchasing power has gone up even in smaller cities, so we don’t need to lower our prices here,” he says.

 

Community through cuisine 

Food is just one part of the mix. From cultural programmes to cycling clubs, F&B brands are also investing in community-building. Ciclo Café engages cycling enthusiasts, IKK Panjab offers cultural immersion events, and Social, a brand under Impresario, supports startup ecosystems through its workspace concept – a membership-only work-from-cafe initiative that offers members office space, including desks, coffee, Wi-Fi, printer, discounts on food and beverage, and so on.

 

Whether through a multibrand or single-brand strategy, one thing is clear: Non-metro markets are impossible to ignore.

 

Zorawar Kalra, founder and managing director of Massive Restaurants, is expanding Farzi Café’s footprint, given that the brand accounts for 70–75 per cent of the company’s overall portfolio. “Our expansion strategy follows a structured approach — national growth is primarily driven by Farzi and Papaya [another restaurant under the group], while intracity expansion is planned strategically across multiple brands, capitalising on high-revenue opportunities in select markets,” says Kalra. Over the next two years, Massive Restaurants aims to take Farzi Café to 50–60 locations, bringing its total restaurant count to over 100. Just in March, Farzi Café opened in Goa’s Morjim.

 

Riyaaz Amlani’s Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality, a heavyweight in the F&B sector, is also betting big on non-metro cities, with plans to add 10–15 new Social outlets each year. Currently, Social operates in 20 cities with nearly 60 outlets. The brand launched in Lucknow about six months ago, and is already there in non-metros like Chandigarh, Dehradun, Pune, and Indore. According to Amlani, these markets present strong opportunities for growth while enabling brands to offer differentiated, localised experiences.

 

Despite challenges such as infrastructure gaps, limited talent pools, and training constraints, the F&B sector remains bullish on the rising appetite in these emerging cities. Take Indore, for example. With the city gaining recognition for its vibrant cafe culture, the Virat Kohli-backed One8 Commune opened here, across 6,500 sq ft, a few months ago.

 

As the appetite for high-quality dining and lifestyle experiences grows across cities, the spread is only getting bigger. 

Restaurants on the move

  *  Bright Hospitality (IKK Panjab, AMPM, Espresso Anyday): Chandigarh; plans for cocktail bars, Irani cafés, coffee-forward spaces, and pizza shops in smaller cities

  *  Olive Group (Olive Cafe and Bar): Chandigarh, Ludhiana; eyeing Bhopal, Indore, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Lucknow, and Dehradun

  *  Burma Burma: Expansion to 24 locations by mid-2026; eyeing UAE and London

  *  Cafe Delhi Heights: New outlets in Goa, Srinagar; existing presence in Ludhiana, Lucknow, Chandigarh, and Dehradun

  *  Ciclo Cafe: Operating in Chennai and Puducherry; exploring Coimbatore, Madurai, Vellore, and Ooty

  *  Massive Restaurants (Farzi Cafe, Papaya): National expansion to 50–60 locations

  *  Impresario (Social): Operating in 20 cities including Chandigarh, Dehradun, Pune, Indore, and Lucknow; adding 10–15 outlets annually

  *  One8 Commune (Virat Kohlibacked): Opened 6,500 sq ft outlet in Indore