READY-TO-COOK, READY-TO-EAT, READY TO BOOM

Most HoReCa establishments rely on ready to cook products as it simplifies food preparation and helps streamline the overall operations in a big way

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The HoReCa business worldwide was probably one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The Indian food services market was no exception. According to a report by the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), it witnessed a 53% degrowth in FY2021 compared to the previous fiscal year. This contraction in the food services industry was the direct cause of closure of over 25% of food business operators, further resulting in the loss of 2.4 million Indian jobs.

However, the story seems very different from how starkly everything started. There was an opportunity to be explored yet again in the middle of a crisis. Before COVID, restaurants, cloud kitchens, QSRs (Quick-Service-Restaurants) did not rely on many Ready-to-Eat (RTE) or Ready-to-Cook (RTC) products.

This sector's real world dependence on these kind of products was about 8% before the pandemic hit. Two years down, that figure has now rocketed to 40-50% and in the case of bigger brands it's as high as 80%. Post COVID the same kitchens and restaurants are relying entirely on the manufacturers in the RTE/RTC sector.

COMING IN, HELPING OUT

RTC has proved to be a silver bullet in this time of crisis. The entire HoReCa sector had some very tough choices to make. The unavailability of staff owing to the stay-at-home-advisory, added cost pressures, supply chain bottlenecks and several other factors were pushing the sector into degrowth but thanks to the RTC sector, they found a quick fix to these problems.

The entire HoReCa sector has pivoted massively to RTC products after the pandemic hit to adapt to new demand trends and customer expectations. So much so, that RTC products have now become a part of the regular mix of establishments from the biggest of brands to the smallest of outlets.