The food and food services industry has recorded a high growth rate in recent years as aligned to the rising economic prosperity of the country. Several factors have been responsible for its growth, including the rising income levels of the country’s middle class resulting in more disposable income, the growing urbanisation, bigger share of youth population, presence of more nuclear families who have a higher tendency to eat out and increase in working women population. The Indian food services industry can be broadly categorised into full-fledged restaurants, fast food joints and cafes and bars. The industry is marked by the dominance of unorganised players, even though there has been a noticeable trend towards fine dining among a section of the population. Encouraged by the rapid growth in this industry, a lot of international players have entered the scenario, apart from local players who are on an aggressive expansion mode. Innovative ways of marketing and luring customers, apart from keeping a check on food prices, are the keys to success in this otherwise highly competitive industry. At the same time, soaring real estate prices and lack of skilled and semi-skilled labour act as major impediments for the growth of this industry. Hide this