New Delhi, September 11, 2020.

After a long wait for over 5 months, reports of dining in at restaurants in Maharashtra finally resuming in a month from now, is a welcome relief for the F&B industry.  Over the last 5 months, Dineout encouraged users to stay home and dine out later and used that time to work with restaurants to make them #SafeToEatOut again once the lockdown restrictions were lifted. Dineout introduced Contactless Dining with QR codes and also partnered with Equinox Labs to provide hygiene certifications to enable #SafeToEatOut again! 

Dineout’s campaign is also instrumental in building diner confidence by educating and creating awareness about the safety measures taken by partner restaurants. Users can see the certified restaurants on the Dineout App with their audit rating and make an informed decision.  

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08rGV-C5hMA

Recent data by Dineout revealed that users are now considering restaurants with premium hygiene standards and safety tags. While they had Zero transactions during the lockdown, there is now a 4X traffic on partner restaurants with #SafeToEatOut tag as compared to restaurants without contactless technology and safety tags. The data also reflects the adoption of QR code technology within the F&B industry for providing digital menu and digital payment solutions. Over 80% of the payments are done using digital modes instead of cash/card owing to safety and hygiene measures. 

Dineout sees a sharp increase in restaurant reservations and transactions across the country. Delhi scores highest in terms of restaurant reservation volumes followed by Bangalore and Kolkata. In Delhi, 86% of reservations were made for two with maximum reservations at Castle BBQ. Hyderabad saw families visiting restaurants with 65% of people reserving a table for 4 at Absolute Barbecues. In Chandigarh and Kolkata, Pirates Of Grill and BBQ Nation witnessed the highest footfall respectively with 38% and 32% reservations when compared with pre-COVID numbers.  58% of the business in the month of August was generated from Casual Dining restaurants followed by cafes and Quick Service Restaurants (QSR). Millennials were the flag-bearers of this growth with over 78% of diners between the age group of 18-35 years. 

Expressing his enthusiasm in welcoming diners to their favorite Dineout partner restaurants in town, Ankit Mehrotra, Co-Founder & CEO - Dineout said, “Leading restaurants across the country are beginning to open doors past delivery & takeout. With #SafeToEatOut campaign we’re making sure that our users get premium hygiene and safety standards at the partner restaurants. Interestingly, more than 80% of people were making payments using Dineout Pay while checking out. This reinforces the fact that modern-day consumers have endorsed the growing adoption of contactless technology among our restaurant partners. This will definitely move the needle for the future of restaurant transactions” 

Rahul Khanna, Director, Azure hospitality Pvt. Ltd, “F&B industry is struggling to find too much to cheer for in these tough times, and it's heartening to see that loyal customers are coming back with a smile behind those masks. Happy to see normalcy return again but with the help of technology, our restaurant industry is definitely going to be stronger and safer together, 6 ft apart.” 

Anjan Chatterjee, Founder, Chairman and MD, Speciality Restaurants Pvt Ltd, “Our restaurants have gone above and beyond to make sure that they are safe for diners. We have received a good response from guests coming back to our outlets for Dine in at Bangalore and Kolkata. We have implemented measures like distanced seating arrangements, demarcated waiting spots in queues and controlled diner inflow among others. With the help of technology and certified hygiene measures, we are looking forward to make dining experiences safe & memorable again.