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Journalism of Courage
Gone are the days when house parties meant a flurry of casseroles, restaurant deliveries and frantic reheating sessions. Even with help, hosts were often tethered to the kitchen instead of enjoying their party.
Take Mumbai-based producer-director Divya Palat and her husband Aditya Hitkari, an actor-producer and media specialist. They love throwing parties in their Breach Candy and Alibaug homes and have three lined up before Diwali. Their first party was a few months after their wedding in March 2006.
“We were hosting and doing everything, from cooking to managing decor and entertainment. I remember calling Aditya and saying, ‘We need a dishwasher.’ He asked why, and I told him, ‘We don’t have evening staff, and there’s no way I’m doing the dishes after the party!’ He said he would help but after two or three parties, he realised it too, and we finally got a dishwasher,” she says with a laugh.
In those early years, Palat, 46, created most of the menu herself — kebabs, spinach filo pastries, gravies, biryani — while ordering a few dishes from restaurants. She and Hitkari took turns ensuring every platter was hot and circulating among guests. Gradually, she began ordering more food and hiring wait staff. “I don’t like leaving my guests to their phones while I am in the kitchen. I like to be personally involved in the party,” she says. Back then, choices were limited, she adds, “You either ordered from five-star hotels or your go-to restaurants in the neighbourhood.”
Today, gourmet home caterers have taken over kitchens and living rooms. They serve pre-plated, customised, individually portioned dishes spanning multiple cuisines. Every bite arrives at the right temperature, beautifully plated. They go beyond food: they curate the entire experience. From menu design to table decor, serveware, cutlery and bartending, they handle it all.
For Palat and Hitkari, whose parties range from 15 to 45 guests and often follow a theme, such as a murder mystery, gourmet catering allows them to be as involved in the party as in its preparation. “When we host our mystery game night, each course reveals a new clue,” says Palat, “Once you find your favourite chefs, they know your taste and even your guests’ preferences if you’ve hosted with them before. The food is healthier, customisable and the options are endless, from live tandoor to chaat counters.” She recalls a chocolate mud pie recreated in red velvet for a murder mystery night.
Customisation is the biggest factor driving the growth of gourmet home caterers across India, with metros like Delhi and Mumbai leading the way and Ahmedabad emerging as one of the most lucrative new markets. This is how Bhakti Mehta, 41, founder of Mumbai-based Little Food Co, entered gourmet catering 15 years ago.
A friend asked her to design a small canape menu for 20–25 people at a fashion store launch. “Restaurants wouldn’t cater to your needs and wedding caterers wouldn’t take such a small order. The only option left was to hire a maharaj, and we weren’t looking for that kind of food,” recalls Mehta, then an advertising professional.
She created a four-dish menu: watermelon feta cake, Thai-style pani puri, wasabi hummus on crackers and Mexican tarts. “It was a hit. I realised there was a gap in the market and my friends encouraged me,” says Mehta, who soon became known as the ‘Thai pani puri girl’. At first, she catered only on weekends from her home kitchen, serving 10–15 people, priced at around Rs 500 a head. Nine months later, she quit her full-time job.
Today, Mehta is a leading player in Mumbai’s gourmet segment, offering over 500 dishes spanning Bihari, Gujarati, South Indian, Mexican, Italian and Japanese cuisines. Her clients include Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Ayushmann Khurrana, for whom she has catered every house party since Vicky Donor in 2012.
Another big player in Mumbai is Aditi Dugar. Known for her multiple award-winning, tasting-menu restaurant Masque, Dugar’s entry into F&B began with a gourmet catering company. In 2012, she had taken a break from her finance career to care for her two toddlers when her mother, Rajkumari Naheta, who had long conducted cooking classes at home, started getting orders for the dishes she was known for and wanted to make it professional. Dugar stepped in to help, and together they started a tiny catering business from home, which eventually became Sage & Saffron. “We noticed that outside people’s homes, vegetarian food wasn’t celebrated as much. At home, it was vibrant and ingredient-forward — even global cuisines were adapted with a vegetarian twist — but restaurants didn’t reflect that. People wanted someone to not just prepare food but also plan menus and source quality ingredients,” recalls Dugar, 42.
Their first assignment came from Durga Raheja (director of K Raheja Realty Group of Companies), who was hosting 20 guests at home. They put together a mix of Rajasthani and Thai dishes. Today, Sage & Saffron handles intimate dinners for two as well as parties for 2,000.
While Indian cuisine remains the most requested and guests almost always want one or two Indian dishes even in a global menu, other popular choices include Asian, Thai and Italian. “When we started, it was about burrata, asparagus, avocado and truffle. Now, local ingredients such as jackfruit, yam, hara chana and lotus stem create the buzz,” she says.
Unlike them, Delhi-based chef Meherwan Bawa, 36, made a conscious choice when he launched Farro in 2023 with partners Karan Mallik and Mehma Alagh. “Restaurants are creatively restrictive. In catering, each menu is fully customised for the guest, which keeps us creatively stimulated,” says Bawa, CEO and culinary head of Farro, which can cater three to five events in a day, catering to nearly 1,000 people in total.
“Gourmet catering is the main showcase of a house party. A grazing table (like a charcuterie board), for instance, is visual entertainment in itself,” says Mehta. If someone wants Indian food, it often comes with a modern twist — biryani served as part of a flying buffet (personalised serving), Amritsari kulcha in taco format, paneer tikka biryani in meatball form and avocado chaat now replace aloo chaat and kale patta chaat instead of palak patta, foamed yoghurt and even touches of molecular gastronomy. “The devil is in the details,” says Bawa, “Many in our team and I are ex-Oberoi. We bring a certain level of hospitality. The staff speak fluent English, menus are made with high-end ingredients sourced directly from farmers and everything from butchery to bakery is in-house.”
When asked whether clients expect the same authenticity they would find at a cuisine-led restaurant, Dugar says expectations often run higher. “People, today, have very nuanced palates. They understand cuisines, demand finesse and value balance of flavours. They examine it so closely that someone might tell you a dessert would work better with 20 per cent less sugar,” she says.
COVID-19 gave gourmet catering a major boost when people preferred intimate home gatherings over restaurants. Sanjay Vazirani, chairman and MD of Foodlink F&B Holdings India Ltd, says , “In India, catering is already over $5 billion, with gourmet food growing at 18 per cent CAGR, expected to reach $23 billion by 2033.”
Calling it one of the fastest-growing niches, Vazirani says it’s driven by demand for artistry, storytelling, wellness and experience. When a Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individual (UHNI) client in Mumbai requested a ‘Michelin-style’ tasting menu at home — with service, plating and storytelling — he became surer about the appetite for exclusivity beyond banquet halls.
Foodlink isn’t alone. Even IHCL, the parent company of the Taj Group, which entered this space in 2019 with Soulinaire, noticed the same trend: Guests want world-class hospitality at home. Soulinaire has since delivered double-digit annual growth, scaling from a few high-profile events to dozens annually across metros. The busiest season runs October to March, coinciding with weddings, festivals, New Year, and cooler weather that encourages more social gatherings.
In gourmet home catering, sky really is the limit but typical starting prices range between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 per head. At Little Food Co, the starting price is Rs 2,800 a head and it covers five-six appetisers, three-four mains and two desserts. Adding bar service brings it to around Rs 3,300 (liquor and licence are the client’s responsibility). They take bookings for 30 to 300 guests, handling three-four events a day across Mumbai, Pune and Gujarat. Farro starts at Rs 3,000 a head and goes up to Rs 10,000. They can cater 10–500 guests an event, across three to five events a day, including large Delhi farmhouses and city bungalows. While most prefer bookings in advance, Farro is happy to take up booking at one day’s notice, provided they aren’t fully booked.
Sage & Saffron serves intimate dinners for two to grand parties for up to 2,000 guests. “Our cost starts at Rs 5,000 a head, with a minimum billing of Rs 1.5 lakh,” she says. They handle three to four events daily across homes ranging from compact kitchens to sprawling properties pan-India.
Celebrity clients bring recognition but also assumptions. “It helps with eyeballs but some think we’re unaffordable just because we cater to celebrities, which isn’t true,” says Mehta. The real business driver is word-of-mouth. Social media also helps, as people see caterers delivering luxury experiences and approach them confidently.
While Mumbai and Delhi-NCR dominate, gourmet catering is expanding to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Lonavala, Alibaug, and Gujarat. Vazirani adds, “Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Tier-II cities like Indore and Surat are seeing rising traction, where a new generation of entrepreneurs and professionals are eager for world-class dining at home.”
When it comes to cuisine preferences, Soulinaire notes: Mumbai clients lean global, eclectic and modern, balancing luxury with cosmopolitan flair. Delhi clients are more traditional, seeking grandeur with larger spreads, elaborate Indian regional menus and opulent setups. “A market that pleasantly surprised us is Ahmedabad. The demand here is driven by community celebrations and family-led occasions. There is an emphasis on vegetarian menus, innovation within Indian traditions, and creating memorable experiences that respect cultural nuances,” says a spokesperson.
Gourmet home catering is as much about logistics as it is about cuisine. “It’s a logistics-heavy business. A significant part of my time goes in firefighting, especially in Mumbai where traffic is a serious headache,” says Mehta. Preparations for most begin a day or two in advance — crockery is packed, staff hired, bar service finalised and labels printed. On the event day, around 80 per cent of the food is cooked in a central kitchen and the team arrives a few hours early to set up and handle the final prep.
Vazirani sees gourmet home catering moving toward mainstream luxury. “The next phase is hyper-personalised menus. Technology will play a role too — AI-driven personalisation and seamless digital booking,” he says. He also predicts growth beyond metros. “Tier-II and Tier-III cities are increasingly seeking such experiences. Gourmet home catering is evolving from a niche indulgence to a defining marker of modern luxury hospitality in India.”
