India welcomed 2026 with a strong preference for familiar comfort food, according to data released by Swiggy on New Year’s Eve ordering trends. Food delivery activity remained high across the country as households marked the year-end celebrations at home.
The final evening of 2025 saw sustained demand for popular items such as biryani, pizza, burgers and Indian desserts. Orders suggested that food continued to be a central part of New Year’s Eve gatherings, with customers choosing widely consumed favourites over experimental cuisine.
Swiggy’s data showed that ordering momentum began building early in the evening, especially in several emerging metros and large cities. Activity was not limited to major metros alone, indicating a broader spread of online food delivery adoption.
Early Evening Trends
Cities such as Patna, Surat, Vadodara, Nagpur, Jaipur, Pune and Indore recorded an early rise in orders. In these locations, demand started increasing from the evening hours and continued steadily through the night.
Cakes, pizzas and biryanis emerged as the most ordered items during the early part of the evening. These categories maintained consistent demand across multiple regions, reflecting common celebration preferences during year-end occasions.
Biryani continued to dominate food orders as the evening progressed. Before 7:30 pm, the dish accounted for more than 2.18 lakh orders nationwide, highlighting its position as a staple celebration meal.
Biryani Leads Orders
As New Year’s Eve advanced, biryani orders rose sharply. Just before 8:00 pm, the platform recorded a peak of around 1,336 biryani orders per minute, indicating a surge during dinner hours.
Unusually large single orders were also reported. In Bhubaneswar, one customer placed an order that included 16 kilograms of biryani, reflecting group celebrations and bulk ordering trends.
By around 8:30 pm, pizza and burgers recorded nearly similar order volumes. Pizzas crossed about 2.18 lakh orders, while burgers were close behind at over 2.16 lakh orders, suggesting balanced demand between the two categories.
Large Individual Orders
Swiggy’s data also highlighted notable individual ordering patterns from different parts of the country. In Bengaluru, one customer ordered 100 burgers in a single transaction, while a user in Goa placed an order for 39 portions of kebabs, tikkas and related items.
In Gurugram, a single order included 18 boxes of brownies and 18 plum cakes, indicating dessert-heavy celebrations. In Nagpur, one customer reportedly placed more than 93 orders over the course of the day.
Surat also recorded high-frequency activity, with one customer ordering food from 22 different restaurants on December 31, 2025. These instances pointed to varied consumption habits across regions and individuals.
Desserts And Midnight Orders
As the night moved closer to midnight, Indian desserts gained prominence in overall ordering patterns. Items such as rasmalai, gajar halwa and gulab jamun featured among the top five desserts ordered around 10:30 pm.
The preference for traditional sweets alongside western fast food suggested a mix of cultural and contemporary tastes during New Year celebrations. Orders remained steady into the late evening hours.
Pizza emerged as one of the most commonly ordered items as the country entered 2026. Overall, the data reflected a strong reliance on food delivery platforms for home-based celebrations, with familiar dishes remaining central to India’s New Year’s Eve dining choices.
