BENGALURU: Shreyans Jain (24), cofounder of Under 25 Club, preferred to throw his start-up’s sixth anniversary party at his office. The spacious terrace accommodated a live band performance for about 100 guests. Restaurant-food was served in bento-boxes specially designed for parties.
“We could not go to our favourite resto-bar because of the music ban. But we got its best-selling food to our party,” says Jain.
With a ban on live music at most resto-bars, more and more people are making do with home entertainment. Following suit, more and more restaurants and watering holes are adding an exclusive house-party menu to their repertoire.
Social’s party menu, launched a month ago, caters its best-seller butter chicken biryani by the kilo in china-boxes. “We saw a 20% dip in footfall since the live music ban was enforced. Bengaluru is also becoming the city of Netflix and micro-partying at home. Our kilomenu addresses both the issues,” said Ranveer Sabhani, business head–south.
Monkey Bar has been delivering food for house parties at least twice a month. “There is no music at our gastro-pub. Our patrons are partying more at home but miss our food. This sparked the idea of a house party menu which makes business sense and gives our brand visibility,” said head chef Dheeraj Varma.
Fierce competition in the F&B industry prompted eatery Dhaba Estd.1986 Delhi to introduce a house-party menu, also recently. Their bestsellers like dalmakhani, tandoori chicken, party-menu specials like rajma-chawal come at a 20-30% discount.
“Our research showed that people want good quality food with good deals now. We have devised this menu to stay in competition and penetrate this growing new market of home entertainment,” said its chef Ravi Saxena.
Observers of the F&B space agree that Bengaluru is now home to evolved diners who do not want “cheap Charlie” food. A rising number of food delivery platforms offering deals and discounts has contributed to the trend too. “Bengalureans have started partying at home as it comes with lesser restrictions and is pocket-friendly to boot. There is no party deadline stress. Running into cops for drunken driving is avoided,” explained food expert Aslam Gafoor.
Restaurants are sensing the danger of losing both patrons and new footfalls. House-party menus have thus emerged as a solution for brand loyalty and recall, he pointed out.
