Scandalous Foods’ new study maps how Indian sweets are shifting from festive tradition to daily desire as Gen Z drives visual-first, fusion-led consumption
Scandalous Foods, one of India’s fastest-growing B2B innovators in frozen traditional sweets, has unveiled the India’s Dessert Index 2025, a comprehensive study mapping how Indians choose, consume, and perceive mithai today. Drawing insights from 684 respondents across age groups, regions, and social backgrounds, the report captures an evolving dessert culture where younger consumers are reshaping mithai from a ritualistic treat into an everyday indulgence.
The study highlights a category rooted in deep cultural familiarity yet rapidly transforming as consumers increasingly demand visual appeal, portion-controlled formats, and modern presentation. While India’s historic relationship with sweets—from temple laddus to festive halwas—continues to influence behaviour, the report shows a decisive shift away from seasonal or prasad-based consumption towards daily dessert moments traditionally dominated by ice creams and chocolates in India’s $30 billion market.
The Dessert Index tracks perception, adoption patterns, satisfaction scores, and wellness expectations. Its respondent pool—57% women and 43% men, comprising 50% Gen Z, 30% Millennials, and 20% Gen X—reflects India’s diverse dessert audience. The findings show that although the average Indian consumes 6.5 kg of sweets annually, how they relate to mithai is changing dramatically.
A major insight is the rise of visual-first consumption, especially among Gen Z. This cohort chooses desserts that look premium, photograph well, and offer social currency. While baby boomers remain loyal to classic mithai, Millennials prefer balancing the familiarity of traditional sweets with modern reinterpretations. Gen Z, meanwhile, consumes Western desserts publicly and mithai privately, gravitating towards options that feel aspirational and visually expressive.
Fusion formats—such as motichoor cakes, rasmalai cheesecakes, and rasgulla tiramisu—continue to draw strong interest. Consumers increasingly prefer portion-sized indulgence that preserves full flavour while offering better control, rather than relying on sugar-free alternatives. These behavioural trends signal mithai’s potential to move confidently into everyday consumption spaces with the right formats, visibility, and modern structures.
The report also documents how restaurants and food brands are responding with premium packaging, contemporary twists on traditional recipes, and ready-to-serve offerings such as reinvented kulfis. However, the study suggests that fusion formats are only a stepping stone. The long-term opportunity, it argues, lies in elevating classics like rasmalai, gulab jamun, and kalakand as modern hero products—celebrated for their original identity rather than as components inside Western-style desserts.
Sanket S, Founder of Scandalous Foods, said:
“Indian desserts are standing at a defining crossroads, heritage on one side and a visually driven generation on the other. What this study makes clear is that mithai is no longer competing only with flavour. It’s competing with attention, aspiration, and relevance in public spaces. As an industry, we now have the data to re-engineer classics without diluting identity. This is our opportunity to shape a modern mithai movement—one that doesn’t imitate global desserts but stands proudly beside them.”
The India’s Dessert Index 2025 opens an important conversation on how Indian sweets can reclaim visibility, aspiration, and relevance in the country’s evolving dessert landscape. With this study, Scandalous Foods aims to help the industry reimagine mithai as a contemporary, high-impact category suited for a generation redefining indulgence.
Founded in August 2022, Scandalous Foods aims to become the largest player in unplanned, post-meal mithai purchases. Recognising the opportunity within restaurants—where diners often crave a sweet finish but face limited choices—the brand supplies traditional Indian sweets in single-serving cups with a six-month shelf life, catering exclusively to B2B clients.
