Bengaluru firms bet big on idlis

Home delivery company Swiggy claims that a single user from Hyderabad spent ₹6 lakh on buying idlis on the platform in the last 12 months

Bengaluru-based Swiggy has said that the platform delivered 33 million plates of idlis in the last 12 months with Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai ordering most of them followed by Mumbai, Coimbatore, Pune, Vizag, Delhi, Kolkata, and Kochi.

Entrepreneur P.C. Musthafa’s venture iD Fresh Food put their idli dosa batter factory at Anekal, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, live for viewers around the world. The company claims that their fully-automated giant home kitchen, spread across 80,000 sq.ft., prepares 1 lakh kilograms of batter a day.

“iD’s biggest USP is its 100% natural, home-made style of preparation, without the use of any chemicals, preservatives, artificial colours, or flavours,’‘ claimed Musthafa, CEO and co-founder. He told The Hindu that iD Fresh Food, till date, made 10.5 crore kg of batter, including 2.4 crore kg during FY 21-22 and 3.1 crore kg in FY 22-23.

Swiggy claims that a single user from Hyderabad spent ₹6 lakh on buying idlis on the platform in the last 12 months. An analysis of idli sales between March 30, 2022, and March 25, 2023, indicated that the most popular time to order idlis was between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. However, consumers from Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, and Mumbai also preferred ordering idlis during dinner time. 

Plain idli (two in a plate) was the most popular variant across all cities. Bengaluru led rava idli sales while ghee and neyi karam podi idli (idli with ghee and spicy powder) was popular in cities across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana where customers also ordered sambar, coconut chutney, karampuri, medu vada, saagu, ghee, red chutney combos. Thatte idli (flat idli) and mini idli featured regularly amongst orders across all cities.