Drive-in restaurants offer diners physically distanced meals

Drive-in restaurants are catching the fancy of diners in the pandemic era, with portable trays hitched to car windows, QR-coded menus and curated playlists

Move over BYOB, it is time to BYOC: Bring Your Own Car. With customers still nervous about eating at busy restaurants, but eager to get out of the house after successive lockdowns, a trend from the 70s is making a comeback and drive-in restaurants are sprouting across the country. At Drive & Dine by Dhuaan in Kanpur, golf carts deliver food to cars packed in designated spots. Launched last August, by the Status Hospitality Group, this idea was a response to the pandemic. “The hospitality industry was shook. We have hundreds of employees to support. Home delivery was the only thing that was working but that was not enough to cover costs,” says Yash Malhotra who has taken over the family hospitality business along with his sister Insha Malhotra.