Mapping Meal Occasions: How a QSR Chain Found Its Next Growth City

Industry: Quick Service Restaurants (QSR)

Client: A leading national QSR chain with 400+ outlets across India

The Challenge

The client was evaluating expansion into three Tier-2 cities but lacked reliable data on out-of-home eating behaviour at the dish and occasion level. Traditional U&A studies provided attitudinal data but couldn't reveal what consumers actually ate, when, and where.

Our Solution: Table Share® Syndicated Intelligence

We leveraged Table Share® — Elastic Tree's proprietary food consumption panel tracking 3,468 households across 16 cities — to deliver occasion-level intelligence without the cost of a bespoke study.

Key Data Layers Used

• Occasion mapping: Breakfast, lunch, evening snack, dinner, and late-night eating patterns by city
• Dish-level tracking: Specific menu categories consumed out-of-home vs. at-home
• Spend & frequency: Average ticket size and visit frequency by occasion and SEC segment
• Competitive share: Share of throat across QSR, casual dining, and delivery channels

Impact

• Identified two high-potential cities where lunch occasions were underserved relative to population density
• Recommended a menu localisation strategy based on regional dish preferences revealed in the panel
• Client secured board approval for expansion with syndicated data costing 60% less than a custom tracker
• Table Share® subscription continues to monitor post-entry performance quarter-on-quarter

Continuous food intelligence — dish by dish, occasion by occasion.