Swiggy's mouth-watering StatEATistics report reveals India's food ordering habits

As we approach a brand-new year, we can’t help but reminisce what our foodies have been up to in 2019. Swiggy’s 4th yearly StatEATistics report on India’s food ordering habits highlighted some interesting foodie trends. Did Indians finally make their peace with pineapple on pizza? Did Gulab Jamun continue to romance our sweet tooth? And did the Biryani - the Queen of our Hearts - finally lose her throne to someone else? Let's find out!

Note: Swiggy’s order analysis is based on the hundreds of millions of orders Swiggy received on its platform as the largest food delivery platform in the country. The analysis is pan-India for the period between starting Jan 2019 until Nov 2019.

Top 2019 trends

Comfort Food

In India, we have a wide variety of cuisines available, thanks to our cultural diversity that brings upon a sense of nostalgia or sentimental value with every bite taken. While for some it’s Rajma Chawal, for others it’s Curd Rice or Khichdi. There’s a wide variety of food providing comfort to Indians during all our ups and downs. Understanding the soul food cravings of simple meals, Swiggy has a host of ‘Ghar ka Khanna’ style meals to satisfy the Indian cuisine carvings. A quick glance at the khichdi orders on Swiggy in 2019 highlights how the category has grown rapidly from January to November with a 128% increase in orders. A considerable increase was noticed during the festive month of Navaratri. Further, a variety of thalis like Methi Malai Paneer, Dhaba Dal with Rice and Chapatis thali, Gobi Matar Masala, Dal Makhani with Jeera Rice and Chapatis thali and the Mini Dosa, Idli, Vada and Sambar thali have found a special place on consumers’ meal tables.

Now for a pop quiz – What’s the most common first order by new users on Swiggy? ... No points for guessing... it is BIRYANI!

Biryani for National Food of India?

It wasn’t a big surprise to see Biryani top the list of the most ordered dish for the third year in a row; it might as well be declared as the national food of the country. Indians ordered an average of 95 Biryanis per minute or 1.6 Biryanis every second! Swiggy reciprocated India’s big appetite for biryani with 35,056 varieties and combos of biryanis available for users across the platform. And that’s not a typo! The most popular ones are Boneless Chicken Biryani, Chicken Dum Biryani, Mutton Biryani, Egg Biryani, Veg Biryani and Paneer Biryani.

Thrissur in Kerala, famous for its Biryani combos, saw a special addition this year. ‘Freedom Food Combo’ prepared by jail inmates and delivered fresh by Swiggy, this combo has seen over 2000 orders within a short time of its launch. In terms of getting a bang for the buck, Mumbai’s ‘Chal Dhanno Tawa Biryani’ was sold on Swiggy for INR 19, a quick-serve vegetarian biryani for those in a hurry. Pune’s sumptuous ‘Chicken Sajuk Tup Biryani’ was the most expensive biryani at INR 1,500.

Pineapple on Pizza: The Topping No One Pined After

While our patrons love their Chicken Biryanis, they prefer vegetarian toppings on their pizzas. Cheese, onion, paneer, extra cheese, mushroom, capsicum, corn, jalapenos and olives were among the most common toppings on pizza orders. Uh, and what about pineapple? India seems to agree with Gordon Ramsay here: “pineapple doesn't belong on pizza”. The pineapple was the least preferred topping and was preferred by only 1.5% of pizzas ordered.

Dessert Storm: Falooda

While people continue to indulge in Gulab Jamun and Moong Dal Halwa, India has found another sweet favourite. Besides 17,69,399 Gulab Jamun orders and 2,00,301 orders for halwa in 2019, Falooda is the newest entry to the top desserts on Swiggy with a whopping 11,94,732 orders this year. A special ice-cream filled Falooda was ordered over 6000 times in Mumbai. Another favourite, ‘Choco pie and drink’ was ordered 79,242 times in Chandigarh alone. Other popular sweet treats include the usual suspects such as Death by Chocolate, Tender Coconut ice cream, Tiramisu ice cream and Kesar Halwa. 

Top Picks Of 2019

Wouldn't it be the best day ever if you had Masala Dosa for breakfast, Chicken Biryani for lunch and Butter Naan with Paneer Butter Masala for dinner? Well, these were the most common choices for meals on Swiggy through any day. Overall, the most loved dishes in 2019 were –

• Chicken Biryani
• Masala Dosa
• Paneer Butter Masala
• Chicken Fried Rice
• Mutton Biryani
• Chicken Dum Biryani
• Veg Fried Rice
• Veg Biryani
• Tandoori Chicken
• Dal Makhani

Health Kick

With more and more Indians being mindful of their eating habits and preferences, Swiggy noticed a significant uptake in Keto specific items ordered. With overall orders for healthy options crossing 3.5 lakhs this year, the latest food trend that has taken the nation by storm is the Ketogenic diet.

While most restaurants have created a category within their menus to cater to our budding fitness enthusiasts, Swiggy noticed a 306% increase in Keto specific items ordered in 2019. Dishes like Keto brownies, Keto-friendly Tuscan Chicken and Healthy Red Rice Poha were some of the most ordered in the healthy category. Keto Brownies are the most indulged sweet treat by our fitness enthusiasts. It is observed that there is a 249% increase in healthy food orders including keto. With this, it is safe to say that following a diet or ordering fresh and healthy food isn’t a challenge anymore.

Every Dish Had Its Day

This year as well, food lovers have declared their own national food days for 2019 by ordering record-breaking numbers of their favourites on these days!

• National Gulab Jamun Day 2019 - February 17th
• National Doughnut Day 2019 - February 24th
• National Coffee Day 2019 - May 12th
• National Ice-cream Day 2019 - May 12th
• National French fries Day 2019 - June 16th
• National Pizza Day 2019 - September 22nd
• National Khichdi Day 2019 - September 29th
• National Biryani Day 2019 - October 20th
• National Kebabs Day 2019 - October 20th
• National Tea Day 2019 - October 20th

Launch Mania

Swiggy serves 530+ cities in India. It was heartening to see people in cities where Swiggy was not present, downloading the app before its launch. Swiggy made it a point to reach most of them, even across the hilly terrains of Shimla and Darjeeling where Swiggy delivery partners mostly deliver on foot! Smaller cities that lapped up food delivery this year included cities like Guntur, Warangal, Madurai and Vizag, with an average of over 1000 orders per day within the first week of launch itself.  In fact, Guntur in Andhra Pradesh received more than 2,500 on the day of its launch!

How India kept going

Swiggy’s lovely patrons did actually make ‘Swiggy Go’ with the newly launched pick up and drop service. Swiggy believes convenience plays a big role in elevating the quality of life of its consumers, and this mission is playing out with Swiggy Go. Since the launch in September this year, our delivery partners have run many tasks big and small.

Unusual requests by our customers- Just another day for Swiggy!

Delivering papaya leaves for a dengue patient, an oxygen machine, wigs and temple prasad. 

Delivering documents, clothes, food, keys, phone & laptop chargers, helmet and spectacles wasn’t much of a hassle this year for Swiggy Go users - they were the most common items picked up through Swiggy Go. One of our delivery partners in Bangalore travelled over 34 kms to handover a bike key to the customer. Food remained a priority, sending a meal/ lunch box was one of the most popular tasks on Swiggy Go.

We also had some entrepreneurs and small business owners use Swiggy Go to deliver terracotta jewellery, repaired items, cupcakes and made-to-order delicacies.

What India Bought

It took a Swiggy delivery partner in Gurgaon under 2 minutes to deliver a cool drink to one of our ‘Swiggy Stores’ customers – faster than it loses fizz. Red onions, Bhindi (okra) and Potatoes were the most ordered items both on weekdays and weekends. While most consumers turn to Swiggy Stores when they need it now, not all customers ordered in the bare necessities. One customer ran up a bill of Rs. 20,000, the largest yet on Swiggy Stores.

There were some unusual requests here too- Customers have used Swiggy Stores to get - 'Gaumutra' (cow urine)- from an ayurvedic store in Gurgaon, 200m Aux cable, a hand-pressed manual water pump, couple rings and rent receipts.

Swiggy’s Wonder Women

Swiggy’s current delivery fleet of over 2.3 Lakh active delivery partners has over 1000 women delivery partners. Sudha from Kochi was Swiggy’s top woman delivery partner for completing over 6,838 orders having joined Swiggy only 13 months ago.

And with that, it’s curtains for 2019. We can’t wait to see how India will surprise us next year. Until then, keep Swiggying it!

Methodology: Swiggy is India’s largest food ordering and delivery platform. The above findings are derived from Swiggy’s order analysis for the last 12 months (January 2019– 30 October 2019) across 500+ cities that Swiggy is present in.