IPL brings some respite for restaurant owners after a sluggish March quarter

Many restaurant chain owners also plan activities around sporting events, as this has always contributed to increased consumption. However, some said that with IPL matches being broadcast across all platforms, live screening has come down, with consumers preferring to watch matches either at their homes or at stadiums.

With the cash-rich league returning to home-and-away format for the first time since 2019, the industry is witnessing a rise in footfalls and online orders. In 2020, the IPL was postponed and then hosted in the Middle East. Last year, it was held at only a few venues in Maharashtra, while the playoffs were held in Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Broadcasters have made a costly bet to bag media rights for the sporting league with Reliance Industries-controlled broadcasting network Viacom18 bagging five years of digital rights, leaving rival Disney Star behind. 23,757 crores. The Disney star has however retained the TV rights 23,575 crores.

Executives in the food services business said consumers had turned cautious during the March quarter. “Q4 has not been great due to a marginal decline in revenge spending and overall higher inflation. Wow! April is showing early signs of a change, said Murali Krishnan, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Momo Foods. Tiger Global Backed Food Service Chain 500 Wow! Momo, wow! China and Wow! Operates a chicken outlet.

Muralikrishnan said the IPL was losing its charm in the last few years but the resumption of matches without any Covid restrictions has brought back the frenzy. After launching a campaign offering value miles, the chain has seen an 18% increase in transactions in just one week. There are also food stalls in its stadium.

“After December, our large orders and deliveries have picked up, especially for the delivery business. Many of our delivery orders are timed to match. Even the outlets, where we are streaming the matches, we have seen a lot of dine-in visitors.”

The community viewing experience is also bringing youth to bars and lounges. “We can see the footfall to watch the game. The way we see it, sport is turning into a community viewing opportunity. We do a lot of screening (soccer, Formula 1) and see an increasing number of sports fan clubs. With the IPL, we saw a good opening momentum for the month, and expect it to continue,” said Alexander Valladares, Chief Marketing Officer, Impresario Handmade Restaurants. In sports “in a big way” including sponsorship for cricketers in this IPL. “We are even more invested in sports this year. With our own social listening tools that we use, a lot of consumers are showing interest in the IPL,” Valladares said.

IPL 2023 is being organized from 31 March to 28 May.

Vikrant Batra, Founder of Batra Bros Food & Beverages Pvt. Ltd., which runs the Cafe Delhi Heights restaurant, said business has been brisk in the first two weekends of the IPL, both from office-goers, and patrons from friends and family. “IPL has been a feature across our outlets since its first season. It fills the March-April lull when restaurants don’t do well. Though it is difficult to pin down the percentage of its contribution to the overall business, but we are seeing an uptick because of it.”

In Gurugram, local restaurant and cafe owners said the corporate crowd is returning to watch the matches.

“We are seeing traction as it is more corporate office driven business. We have never been very heavy on screenings, but for us it is a steady business and we get groups who want to watch IPL matches at Post Office Speakeasy, Cafe Langta and Sidecar.

Meanwhile, some said they have completely stopped screening matches at their outlets as consumers prefer to eat and interact. “So, we don’t play IPL at any other venue, last year also we didn’t screen. Now that sport is so accessible across all mediums—mobile phones, streaming apps, and TV screens everywhere, not everyone will come out just to play. Now we see that when people come out, they come out to relax, have a good conversation etc,” said Dhaval Udeshi, co-founder of Chrome Hospitality, which runs several restaurants in Mumbai.