Executives working in these industries said they expect a 30-40% spike in sales during the tournament that will conclude on November 19.
Many bars and restaurants have rolled out discounts, promotions, merchandise, cricket-themed menus, screenings, theme decor, and even virtual reality zones.
Food delivery app Zomato on Sunday said it has signed actor Ranveer Singh and cricketer Chris Gayle to catch the “cricket energy” for its World Cup campaigns, which includes an AI-generated film.
‘Big spike in reservations‘
Zorawar Kalra, founder of Massive Restaurants that runs Farzi Cafe, Masala Library and Bo Tai, said Sunday’s match would have led to a 25-35% increase in “organic” reservations for his outlets that were screening it compared to normal Sundays. “I say organic because it wasn’t like we proactive reached out to these customers. The metros saw greater footfalls but there were crowds in even markets such as Jabalpur,” he said. However, it was business as usual on Sunday evening at Cyberhub in Gurgaon, a complex of pubs and restaurants.”Sunday evenings are usually not packed while lunch time is busy. Today is no exception,” said a manager at a prominent restaurant asking not to be named. “It’s not that the India-Australia match has drawn more people to the restaurant,” the person added.
But most industry insiders are gung-ho and many are proactively looking to attract cricket fans.
Restaurant chain Social, for example, has inked a partnership with digital sports platform FanCode to sell official event merchandise at its stores and set up immersive virtual reality zones.
“We are seeing a big spike in reservations across our restaurants since people prefer to watch the matches with their friends. Not everyone can be at stadiums,” said Riyaaz Amlani, chief executive officer of Impresario Handmade Restaurants that operates Social, Smoke House Deli and Salt Water Cafe.
Rahul Singh, founder of Beer Cafe, which is now part of B9 Beverages-owned Bira91 and a main sponsor of the World Cup, said customers wearing team jerseys get discounts and top-ups during the matches at its bars where large projection screens are installed for the event.
Lack of availability of tickets for India’s matches amid bulk buying by large corporates is also prompting many fans to make reservations at bars and restaurants instead, industry insiders said.
The app of Bookmyshow, ticketing partner for the World Cup, had even crashed when the sale of tickets first started.
Yet, the Chennai stadium where India played Australia on Sunday was not completely full as many X (formerly Twitter) users pointed out during the match.
