Evolution In Breakfast Tables

The changing lifestyle of the Indian consumers has changed the entire scenario at the breakfast tables in many urban Indian homes. These days, with profusion of nuclear families with both husband and wife rushing off to their work there is little time for setting an elaborate breakfast table. The days when the Indian breakfast varied from region to region – with a variety of recipes which differed from kutch in the west to Kolkata in the east; Srinagar in the north to Suchindram in the south seems to be over, especially in the context of busy post-modern urban India. These days, healthy RTE and RTC options are adorning many a breakfast tables in urban India. This has opened up a wide scope for the cereal breakfast food manufacturers to expand their horizons and provided new entrepreneurs an opportunity to enter the fast expanding Indian cereal breakfast market. Ashok Malkani examines the scope for the entrepreneurs in India’s breakfast cereals market and looks at all the pros and cons of entering this promising market.

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To tackle the day ahead successfully, a healthy and hearty breakfast is essential. And the youngsters in middle class urban India today do not prefer ‘dahi-parantha’  for breakfast anymore. We are witnessing a drastic turn in the breakfast culture in urban India.

This could be attributed to the fact that 65 percent of India’s population comprises of youth, who are responsible for changes in the India’s breakfast segment. Some of them are health freaks, some are tech savvy and some others just want to save their time.

Many among this young population in urban India are from nuclear families where both husband and wife go to work. Thus they often do not have the luxury to have elaborate breakfasts made at home. Besides that nowadays more Indians than ever before are well travelled and are exposed to global lifestyle, which includes global eating habits.

Moreover, today Indian consumers are more hygiene conscious, taste-conscious, brand conscious and experimental than ever before. All these factors have contributed to the growth in the RTE(ready to eat) and RTC(ready to cook) breakfast options in the country.

Mintel Trend ‘FSTR HYPR’ discloses that several brands in India have launched readymade idli or dosa batter for households looking for easier breakfast or meal solutions that are not too different from everyday fare.

Formats range from shelf-stable dry mixes to fresh, ready-to-use batter. The popularity of the ready-made batter has spurred innovation, and comes in different formats—right from smart packaging to multi-grain formulations. Such an evolution of a category has the advantages of ensuring choice, immediate consumption and easy availability of a product not native to a particular region.

RTE, RTC and Healthy

Breakfast menu in post-modern India has changed since the day grandma made