Nepali Palates Increasingly Hankering for Goras' Grub

The western food market in the valley is leaping to new heights with two international fast food brands coming in and the ready market looking forward to healthy competition, making ready-to-eat fast food a rising trend.

City habitants over the past years have developed a taste for trying various cuisines. Not only teenagers, children as well as young adults are increasingly becoming fond of fast food.

"The trend of burgers and pizzas has always been there but the trend of fast food has increased considerably over the past few years," said Kings Burger (Wimpy) manager Rakesh Kumar Khadgi.

Kings Burger cuts approximately three hundred bills on an average daily and has teenagers and young adults as its main customers. It has seen an increase in the number of people coming in by an average of 20 per cent. " We are looking forward to KFC and Pizza Hut coming in as it will be healthy competition for us as well. We are not worried as we have local tastes incorporated into our menu which these two brands will not have," added Khadgi. Looking to stay in tune with the emerging market, Kings Burger is also planning to bring in value added meal services to their customers.

Nanglo, another major food brand name in the country with over 30 years of experience and 14 branches all over the country is also cognisant of the changes coming about in the food market.

"The more places that come up in the valley, the better it will be for the food market. It states a very strong fact that people in Nepal are becoming more aware and the nature of the city is adjustable to change," said Nanglo managing director Gopal Kakshapati.

Nanglo has been around for 32 years and is one of the oldest restaurants in the valley, "I have been witness to generations after generations coming in to eat here, and the loyalty factor for Nanglo is very strong," added Kakshapati.

People are becoming increasingly aware of Western food and are willing to give anything new that comes into the market a chance, "I wouldn't term pizzas and burgers as fast food, because people here still have a laidback lifestyle and haven't gone into the fast lane, but yes, the concept of Western food is progressively creating a wave here," said Kakshapati. "We get around 400 to 500 customers daily on an average and there are many approaches to expand beyond Nepal which we will look into later," he added. The Nepali palate is slowly accepting Western food and Durbar Marg is gradually emerging as the fashion and food hub of Kathmandu, setting a trend that is slowly percolating down across the country.