How India's morning meal became big business

Time of India

15 hours ago

Not long ago, breakfast in India was entirely a home affair. A
paratha
with
chai
or
lassi
in Punjab,
poha
in Maharashtra and the filter coffee–
upma–idli-vada-dosa
spread in the South. Recipes passed down generations, cooked from scratch in the morning rush.
The first serious challenger to this tradition arrived in the mid-1990s, when Kellogg's — now Kellanova — made a high-profile entry. Cornflakes were marketed as the modern, urban breakfast. But the bowl-and-milk routine didn't quite dethrone the skillet. The cultural pull of hot, freshly made Indian breakfasts was too strong.
Two decades later, the battlefield has shifted. Now, the same
aloo paratha
and
masala dosa
can reach your door faster than you can brush your teeth — courtesy of Swiggy Instamart, Zepto Café, Blinkit and a rising army of D2C food brands. Breakfast is no longer just a habit; it's a category with billion-dollar ambitions.
The numbers behind the appetite
Part of it is the choice on offer. Breakfast categories have exploded: millet-based porridges, fortified batters, oat cups, vegan cheese slices, just to sample a few. The more there is to click on, the more there is to buy.
Part of it is psychology. Breakfast is a habit, and habits are profitable. Swiggy's High Protein campaign, which reached 1.8 million consumers across 30 cities, is a case in point — anchor a health-driven story to the morning routine, and you can make 'premium' feel essential.
And part of it is speed. Ten-minute delivery removes the barrier between want and have. Zepto Café learned this when its hot-food arm crossed 100,000 daily orders early on. It also learned how fragile that can be — scaling down parts of the service when logistics and staffing bit back.
Redseer Strategy Consultants' analysis of quick-commerce GMV indicates that breakfast SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) now account for over 12 per cent of food and beverage sales on such platforms and the proportion is growing. With dark stores carrying larger and more diverse breakfast ranges, the barriers to entry for new brands have never been lower.
According to IMARC Group and TechSci Research, India's packaged breakfast market — spanning cereals, ready-to-eat (RTE) meals, and quick commerce–driven fresh options — is worth an estimated USD 3.8 billion in 2024 (INR 31,400 crore). Projections suggest this could hit USD 8.4 billion (INR 69,300 crore) by 2030, with per-capita breakfast spending rising from INR 224 in 2024 to INR 485 by the end of the decade.
This surge isn't just in rupees. SKU counts in the breakfast segment have exploded. Industry tracking of Swiggy Instamart, Zepto Café and Blinkit assortments shows a 50 per cent jump in listed breakfast products in the past two years. In 2022, a typical dark store might carry 35 to 50 breakfast SKUs; in 2024, the count is closer to 60 to 75 — and that's before counting restaurant breakfast menus.
Urban professionals and young families are the drivers. They're willing to pay for convenience, they're brand-aware and they're swayed by protein counts and health claims. Students and gig workers lean on quick-commerce for fast, cheap breakfasts. Older households shift more slowly, but once dark-store freshness reaches their postcode, they start adding batters, milk and eggs to the morning cart.
Then companies are setting themselves up for daily frequency, high-margin upsells and near-zero marketing cost once the habit locks in.
The super bowl
Deepak Maloo, vice president – food strategy, customer experience and new initiatives at Swiggy, says the shift is cultural as much as commercial: 'What was once a niche interest has now evolved into a mainstream movement. The nutritious meal segment on Swiggy has gained strong momentum, driven by increased health consciousness, busier urban lifestyles and better access to transparent food choices.'
Popular orders range from quinoa
khichdi
and grilled chicken sandwiches to paneer
dosas
and berry-yogurt bowls.
Swiggy is also co-creating high-protein offerings with over 35,000 restaurant partners, ensuring a minimum 15g of protein per dish and experimenting with brand tie-ups like McDonald's Protein Plus Burgers and multi-millet buns, available exclusively on the platform.
The sunrise scramble
The time-pressure on breakfast is fertile ground for quick commerce. Someone realising they're out of bread at 8:30 am can have it on the doorstep by 8:45 am — and they'll probably add a pack of trail mix or protein batter while they're at it.
D2C brand Farmley claims to have been a big beneficiary of this shift. Known for its dry fruits, seeds and
makhanas
(commonly referred to as lotus seeds or fox nuts), the brand has pushed deeper into ready-to-eat breakfast-friendly formats. Its 7-in-1 Trail Mix — almonds, cashews, cranberries, blueberries, black currants, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds — is designed for both nutrition and grab-and-go convenience.
'Our breakfast-oriented products like the trail mix and berry-based mixes are seeing strong traction across quick commerce and e-commerce platforms,' says Akash Sharma, co-founder of Farmley. 'Quick commerce stands out particularly for breakfast-related purchases because of the consumer's immediate need in the morning hours.'
For Farmley, the numbers align with a wider behaviour shift: their research shows that over 55 per cent of consumers now seek preservative-free, clean-label products even in quick-consumption formats. In the context of breakfast, that means more seed mixes on yogurt, more roasted nuts in smoothie bowls and fewer processed cereals.
For Id Fresh Food, the 'breakfast rush' doesn't mean abandoning its roots. The brand that built its name on preservative-free dosa-idli batter now uses quick commerce to get it to you before your kettle boils.
Enakshi Dasgupta, head of new product development at Id, says, 'Every new product category is an organic extension of the Indian kitchen — not a departure from it. Whether it's our
Malabar parotas,
paneer, or filter coffee decoction, we stay anchored to food you would make at home. No preservatives, no artificial additives, no shortcuts.'
Farmley, known for its breakfast-friendly dry fruits, nut mixes and granola, sees the same acceleration. Their products have moved from pantry staples to everyday 'on-the-table' items because of faster delivery. Morning shoppers on Instamart and Zepto aren't just ordering ready meals — they're topping them with almonds, dates, or a spoon of peanut butter.
Veeba, which started out as a B2B sauces supplier, now has a breakfast footprint thanks to products like mayonnaise, sandwich spreads and pancake syrups — all geared for quick breakfast prep at home. Quick commerce lets them sell in the exact moment of impulse: when someone decides their toast needs a flavour boost, right now.
MTR, one of the earliest ready-to-cook breakfast players, has evolved from supermarket shelves to being a top performer on Zepto Café and Instamart with its
upma, poha
and
masala
oats packs. The difference is that these packs can now arrive in 15 minutes instead of being part of the weekly grocery run.
The cheat sheet
Quick commerce may be chasing speed, but for some brands, the promise is about trust. Id Fresh Food's Dasgupta, says their 'homemade-style' positioning is non-negotiable: 'Every new product category is an organic extension of the Indian kitchen — not a departure from it. We stay anchored to the principle: food that reflects what you would make at home. No preservatives, no artificial additives, no shortcuts.'
Their batters (
idli, dosa
, multigrain, protein),
parotas
and filter coffee decoction are designed to meet modern nutritional demands while keeping traditional taste intact. Integration with platforms like Blinkit and Zepto means the brand can now deliver batter to your door in under 20 minutes — but Dasgupta is clear that they're not competing directly with hot-meal delivery. She says, 'Our consumers aren't just buying batter — they're investing in control, customisation and care. It's about shaping the
dosa
just the way your child loves it, or serving hot
idlis
straight from the steamer. That's an experience delivery can't replicate.'
Taste, trust, timing
Breakfast plays to the strengths of quick commerce and cloud kitchens in ways lunch and dinner don't. Orders are smaller, prep is faster and demand is predictable — commuters, parents with school runs and health-conscious gym-goers all want the same thing: speed without sacrificing health or taste.
Farmley's almond butter can go on toast. Veeba's chocolate spread can turn a leftover chapati into a treat. MTR's
upma
can be paired with fresh
chutney
from a cloud kitchen. Id's
dosa
batter can be topped with Farmley's roasted pumpkin seeds for crunch.
The 2030 breakfast table
If current growth holds, India's breakfast market will double in six years. IMARC's modelling suggests cereals will maintain their dominance in value terms, but RTE (Ready To Eat) meals — from packaged
upma
to ready-to-eat parathas — will outpace them in growth rate. Quick commerce's contribution to breakfast sales could exceed INR 20,000 crore by 2030, especially as penetration deepens beyond Tier 1 and 2 cities.
The payoff for getting it right is huge. Breakfast is a habitual purchase. Once a consumer chooses their go-to platform or brand for the first meal of the day, they tend to stick with it — and that slot in their routine is incredibly valuable.
This is why Swiggy invests in curated categories and brand collaborations, why Farmley experiments with impulse-friendly INR 40 to INR 200 price range for quick commerce and why Id commits to the 'homemade-style' promise even as it scales.
Breakfast may only account for a fraction of India's daily food spend, but it's a fraction that repeats almost every single day. In the competitive world of food and grocery delivery, that kind of loyalty is gold.
And so, the
idli
, the
paratha
, the protein bowl and the trail mix now share the same battlefield — the modern Indian morning.