The NRAI Food Delivery Summit 2026 packs 15+ sessions, 70+ speakers, 1,500+ brands and 70+ exhibition stalls into a single day in Ahmedabad on 20 August. NRAI expects 5,000+ attendees from 30+ cities.
Those numbers tell you the scale. They do not tell you what the day actually feels like, or where an owner’s time is best spent. This page covers the session formats, the themes running through them, the exhibition floor and the networking around it.
Key Takeaways
- 15+ sessions run across one day, made up of 5+ panel discussions and 6+ workshops plus keynotes.
- 70+ speakers span cloud kitchens, national chains, beverage brands and delivery platforms.
- 70+ exhibition stalls cover kitchen equipment, packaged food, beverages and software.
- The 19 August evening is for networking; all sessions sit on 20 August.
The Summit in Numbers
Every figure below comes from the official NRAI summit microsite.
| What the Summit Includes | Confirmed Figure |
|---|---|
| Sessions across the day | 15+ |
| Panel discussions | 5+ |
| Workshops | 6+ |
| Speakers | 70+ |
| Brands represented | 1,500+ |
| Attendees expected | 5,000+ |
| Cities represented | 30+ |
| Exhibition stalls | 70+ |
Fifteen sessions in one day means parallel tracks and hard choices. You will not see all of it, which is why knowing the formats matters before you arrive.
The 1,500 brands figure is the one most owners underrate. It counts businesses represented in the room, not just exhibitors.
So the person beside you at lunch is as likely to be running four outlets as selling to you. That is a different proposition from a trade expo, where the floor sells and the audience buys.
The Session Formats You Will Sit In
The programme splits into three kinds of room, and each rewards a different sort of attention.
Panel discussions put several operators on stage together. The value is the disagreement, because a cloud kitchen founder and a fine dine operator will answer the same question about discounting in opposite ways. Listen for where they diverge rather than what they agree on.
Workshops are the working sessions. One skill or tool at a time, with room to ask a question about your own outlet. If you have a specific problem, this is where it gets addressed.
Keynotes carry the market view. Fewer specifics, but a useful frame for the year ahead.
With parallel tracks, two sessions you want will clash at some point. The workable rule is simple. Give the workshop slot to whatever you are closest to spending money on.
Catch the panel through someone else’s notes. A workshop on a restaurant AI assistant beats a panel on the same subject if you are about to buy one.
The Themes Running Through the Summit Sessions
Five subjects run through the summit’s own delegate pitch: delivery, scaling, funding, walk-ins and trends. The theme tying them together is Delivering Growth Through Technology.
One question the campaign returns to repeatedly is who owns the customer once an order arrives through an aggregator. That opens into first-party data, retention and direct ordering, which are the levers an owner still controls.
Walk-ins is the one theme that surprises people at a delivery summit. It is here because the same brands chasing app volume are also trying to pull those customers into a seat, where the margin is better and the discount is nobody else’s call.
Technology sits underneath all five. Expect AI in restaurant management to come up often, since forecasting and pricing decisions are where most operators are experimenting right now. The same applies to AI for menu engineering, which turns sales data into pricing calls.
Who You Will Meet at the Summit
The 70+ speakers span very different businesses, which is what makes the room useful.
- Cloud kitchen and delivery-first platforms, including Rebel Foods and EatClub
- National chains and QSR, including Jubilant FoodWorks, Westlife Foodworld and Wow! Momo
- Beverage-led formats, including Chaayos, Chai Point and Tea Post
- Fine dine and hospitality groups, including Massive Restaurants and Impresario
- Platforms, capital and research, including Swiggy, Verlinvest and IIM Ahmedabad
The audience skews to decision-makers rather than floor staff. NRAI names restaurant owners, cloud kitchen operators, delivery platforms, food-tech startups, software providers and equipment suppliers.
NRAI’s own leadership is speaking. Kabir Suri of Azure Hospitality is the current president and Pranav Rungta is vice president, alongside former president Anurag Katriar. If you have an industry-level issue, it can be raised in person rather than by email.
Gujarat is well represented too, with Ankit Chona of Hocco Ice Cream, Darshan Dashani of Tea Post and Chef Aanal Kotak on the list. For an Ahmedabad or Surat operator planning multi-outlet operations, that local network may outlast anything said on stage.
What the Exhibition Floor Covers
Seventy-plus stalls sit alongside the sessions. Based on the summit’s own partner list, the floor spans four broad categories.
| Category on the Floor | What You Will Find |
|---|---|
| Kitchen equipment and solutions | Commercial kitchen setup and hardware, including partners such as Janshakti |
| Packaged and frozen food | Suppliers including HyFun and ITC Master Chef, plus Prasuma |
| Beverages | Beverage partners including Coca-Cola |
| Software and delivery platforms | POS, delivery integrations and aggregator platforms including Swiggy |
Walk it with a shortlist. Know whether you are there for a kitchen display system or a QR ordering setup. One focused hour beats browsing all seventy stalls.
Software is the category where your questions matter most. A POS decision shapes billing, inventory and reporting for years afterwards.
Read up before you arrive so the conversation starts further along. Our page on Petpooja POSS covers what a full restaurant system handles.
The Networking Around the Sessions
Two structured networking slots sit outside the talks.
On 19 August, hotel check-in closes at 3:00 PM. A tour of GIFT City follows from 5:00 PM, then a welcome evening there. This is the quieter of the two days, which makes a real conversation easier to start.
The 20 August summit closes with an after-party featuring live music. Between the two, most attendees find the contacts matter as much as the sessions.
Lunch is the slot people waste. It is the one window in the day where nobody is rushing between halls, so treat it as scheduled time rather than a break. If you booked the entry-plus-lunch pass, it is part of what you paid for.
One practical habit: ask what someone’s delivery share of revenue is rather than how business is going. The first question gets a number and a real conversation. The second gets a shrug.
Common Mistakes to Avoid at the Summit
None of these are dramatic, but they are the difference between a useful day and an expensive one.
- Trying to attend everything. With 15+ sessions across parallel tracks, a full schedule means shallow notes and no conversations.
- Walking the floor without a shortlist. Seventy-plus stalls will hand you brochures until your bag is full and your afternoon is gone.
- Arriving without your own numbers. Panels about margin are abstract if you cannot compare against your own net profit and food cost.
- Skipping the 19 August evening because it is not a session. It is the easier of the two days to actually meet someone.
- Leaving with five ideas. Owners who pick one change and finish it see it in the next month’s numbers. Five ideas usually become none.
How to Get Value From the Summit
A pass pays for itself only if you arrive prepared. Four things help.
- Carry your own numbers. Your delivery share of revenue, food cost percentage and net payout after commission turn a general panel into a specific comparison. Our food cost calculator gives you the first figure in minutes.
- Know your margin before you hear anyone else’s. The profit margin calculator sets the baseline you will be comparing every claim against.
- Pick formats by need, not by the name on the poster. A workshop on a tool you are about to buy beats a keynote by someone famous.
- Know which metrics you want to move. Pick two, not ten.
- Book travel early if you are coming from outside Ahmedabad. Check-in on 19 August closes at 3:00 PM.
Our guide to kitchen success metrics covers the measures that come up most in these discussions.
Please note: ticket prices and offers change. Check the official website for the updated price and current offers before you register for the summit.
Conclusion
Fifteen-plus sessions, 70+ speakers and 70+ stalls in one day is more than anyone can absorb. The attendees who get most out of it decide in advance which two or three problems they are there to solve, then let the rest go.
If your problem is on the delivery side, the follow-through afterwards usually sits in your own systems rather than a new idea. Petpooja POSS handles online orders, billing, inventory and profit reporting from one screen for over 1,00,000 restaurants.
Frequently Asked Questions
NRAI lists 15+ sessions, made up of 5+ panel discussions and 6+ workshops alongside keynote addresses. All of it runs across the single summit day on 20 August.
A panel puts several operators on stage to debate a subject, so you hear disagreement between people running different models. A workshop is closer to a working session on one skill or tool, with more space to ask questions.
With 70+ stalls, yes, if you go in with a shortlist. Decide beforehand whether you are there for kitchen equipment, packaged food, beverages or software. Our comparison of Petpooja POS types is a useful primer before any software conversation.
Prices and offers change through the run-up to the event, so check the official website for the updated price before booking. Registration is online and takes a couple of minutes.
The sessions, speakers and exhibition all sit on 20 August, so a single day covers the content. The 19 August programme is a networking evening with a GIFT City tour, which suits anyone travelling in from outside Ahmedabad.
