What’s the greatest show on earth? For football fans, it’s the FIFA World Cup, for which excitement starts rising months in advance. And now that we’re just hours away from kick-off — at 8.30pm IST on June 14 — restaurants in Delhi-NCR are rolling out offers to score some goals themselves.
At Amuse House, director Tushar Kapoor says, “Apart from live-screening the matches, we’ll have 3D mapping of the FIFA logo, football tables, and a goal post for customers to play while watching the matches.”
A recent article by Hindustan Times reported that a decline in IPL viewership had led to a decline in IPL deals offered by restaurants. This made us ask whether this would be the case with football, too? “I don’t think this will be the case with the World Cup, as it happens once every four years. Also, just because India hasn’t established itself as a footballing nation yet, it doesn’t mean the fan base is not there; it’s big and growing even bigger,” says Tushar Jagota and Chetan Kaushal, owners at Karma Kismet, adding, “We’re offering a deal where we’ll ask a customer to select the team they’re supporting. Then we give them a free cocktails/mocktail based on their country of choice. If the selected team wins, we’ll give them a 15% discount on the total bill.”
Neeraj Sharma, owner at Philtre – The Bistro, says, “To create a perfect ambience, we’re organising some entertaining games and offers, like free shots on every goal. We are also putting FIFA ’18 nations’ flags and jerseys all around the bistro, so Philtre would be looking like it has caught the crazy football fever!” He adds, “To raise the excitement level, we’re giving away unlimited beers at ₹777 and have some special theme-based cocktails. Also, if you predict the winner before the match starts, you’ll get 50% off on your bill.”
{{/usCountry}}Neeraj Sharma, owner at Philtre – The Bistro, says, “To create a perfect ambience, we’re organising some entertaining games and offers, like free shots on every goal. We are also putting FIFA ’18 nations’ flags and jerseys all around the bistro, so Philtre would be looking like it has caught the crazy football fever!” He adds, “To raise the excitement level, we’re giving away unlimited beers at ₹777 and have some special theme-based cocktails. Also, if you predict the winner before the match starts, you’ll get 50% off on your bill.”
{{/usCountry}}Since this year’s World Cup host country is Russia, some restaurants are planning a curated Russian menu and vodka-based food pairings. “We’ll be making some crazy combos around vodka and food. We’re also working on a football platter that’ll bring much innovation to ball-shaped food,” says Piyush Jain, owner at Decode.
The Drunken Botanist has installed three big screens, curated a special menu, and created special deals. Owner Manish Sharma says, “A trivia quiz will be held during the matches, and there’ll be cheerleaders for the teams playing a match.”
Inderjeet Singh Banga, owner at Pra Pra Prank and Prankster, says, “The World Cup is an event to celebrate together. We have special offers on food and drinks, and a special cocktail called FIFA Calling at Pra Pra Prank bar, where lucky customers will get surprise gifts.”
Restaurants that don’t have big screens for live-screening are offering free WiFi to customers. “We want our customers to enjoy the happy hours while watching the matches. So, we’ll be offering free WiFi,” says Pankaj Mendiratta, owner at Tama Brewery & World Kitchen.