Indians rang in 2026 with Biryani, Pizza and 1.3K orders a minute on Swiggy

If New Year’s Eve is a barometer of consumer mood, India rang in 2026 with an appetite for familiarity, abundance and convenience. Data from Swiggy, the food delivery platform, shows that December 31 was marked by record volumes and a clear preference for comfort foods. Biryani, pizza, burgers and cakes dominated orders across cities, reinforcing how deeply entrenched these staples have become in India’s celebratory culture.

The surge was not limited to the largest metros. Demand built early in emerging urban centres such as Patna, Surat, Vadodara, Nagpur, Jaipur, Pune and Indore, where evening orders began climbing well before prime time. Cakes, pizzas and biryanis emerged as early leaders as households settled in for the night.

Biryani, long a fixture of Indian celebrations, once again led the charts. Nearly 219,000 biryani orders were placed before 7:30 p.m., with demand peaking just before 8 p.m. at more than 1,300 orders a minute. In Bhubaneswar, one customer placed a single order for 16 kilograms of biryani, highlighting the scale at which some gatherings were planned.

The contest between Western fast-food favourites remained closely fought. By 8:30 p.m., Swiggy had delivered more than 218,000 pizzas, narrowly ahead of burgers at around 216,000 orders, highlighting the breadth of tastes shaping India’s urban food economy.

Individual ordering patterns added texture to the numbers. In Bengaluru, one customer ordered 100 burgers in a single transaction. In Goa, another placed an order for 39 portions of kebabs and tikkas. A Gurugram customer ordered 18 boxes each of brownies and plum cakes. In Nagpur, a particularly active user placed more than 93 orders over the course of the day, while a customer in Surat ordered from 22 different restaurants on December 31 alone.

As the night wore on, traditional desserts took centre stage. Rasmalai, gajar halwa and gulab jamun featured among the most ordered sweets around 10:30 p.m., suggesting a turn toward familiar flavours as celebrations stretched late into the night. Pizza, meanwhile, emerged as a popular choice to usher in the first hours of 2026.

Dining out also saw a notable uptick. Swiggy Dineout data showed Bengaluru and Hyderabad leading overall bookings, while cities such as Ahmedabad recorded a 1.6-times increase in reservations compared with typical levels. Lucknow and Jaipur followed with growth of 1.3 times and 1.2 times, respectively. Large group bookings were common in Vadodara and Chandigarh, where tables for 30 were reserved. In Mumbai, one diner’s bill crossed ₹94,000, while customers in Pune and Chennai recorded savings of more than 50 percent on their meals.

Together, the patterns point to a consumer economy that remains resilient and celebratory, even as spending is channelled toward known favourites. As India stepped into 2026, the data suggested not a turn toward novelty, but a renewed embrace of foods that feel reliable, indulgent and easy to share.