India's small towns relish big-city tastes

This trend will drive the next wave of investments, says Fireside's Basu

- Priyamvada C.

Mall-town folks are beginning to mimic the eating habits of their big-city cousins, acquiring a taste for dining out and a willingness to try out alien flavours, leaving this early-stage venture capital investor salivating over the opportunity.

For dining out, ordering in, and incorporating packaged and ready-to-eat foods in their diets translates into a vastly larger demographic willing to pay a premium as consumers in tier II cities and beyond embrace a new lifestyle.

"The lack of vast community spaces such as parks in India has revolutionized eating out as a more common way to socialize. As a result, people in smaller cities may have a larger social need to come out and have a meal together," Dipanjan Basu, co-founder of Bengaluru-based Fireside Ventures, said in an interview.