Kolkata: While several restaurants stayed open beyond midnight for the World Cup final on Sunday, they also saw significant growth in sales over the last six weeks, thanks to football fans who stayed glued to match replays that were beamed continuously at restobars. With most matches being played after midnight and early in the mornings, the food and beverages sector lost out on the live action-generated footfall. It still had a 14%-16% rise in sales compared to July 2025, said restaurants’ associations.“The rise in footfall was slow but it was significant over the last two weeks as the business end of the tournament approached. We kept showing the matches throughout the day and many lingered to watch them for they missed the live action. Since the timings were odd, a large section of the fans chose to watch their favourite teams next day on TV. It pushed our sales by around 15% compared to last July,” said Hotel and Restaurants’ Association of Eastern India President Sudesh Poddar, also the owner of Songhai-Manthan and MS Bar & Lounge.Nightclubs saw a crowd surge on big match nights. LMNOQ on Park Street saw a reasonable crowd surge during the big matches and on weekends. “We had a good attendance on some of the big match nights when we stayed open. Though we did not beam all late matches, there was a rise in sales over the last month. We are set to remain open for the final and we are almost sold out,” said Rajiv Nathany of LMNOQ.Olterra off Park Street had 250 guests booked for the final. “We had a full house for the semi-final as well. Messi magic is working this time and Kolkata is loving it. In terms of revenue, the jump was reasonable and could have been much better had the matches been played earlier in the evenings,” said Rudresh Agarwal of Olterra.WhatsUp Cafe on Southern Avenue had offers on beer and cocktails for matches that started early. But the rooftop restobar didn’t stay open late for matches, including Sunday. “We received numerous queries from our patrons asking for a seat for the final. But we are shutting down before the match starts. The World Cup has helped attendance marginally,” said owner Anirban Sengupta, also the co-chapter head of National Restaurants’ Association of India (NRAI).Outlets of Specialty Restaurants – including Cafe Mezzuna, Flame & Grill and Hoppipola – kept deliveries open later than usual and stayed open late for the final on Sunday night. “Our sales have not gone up significantly, though, due to the odd timings,” said Anjan Chatterjee, MD, Specialty Restaurants.Chapter 2 off Southern Avenue had fans flocking to catch the repeat telecasts. It also had offers on cocktails and mocktails during the Cup. “Sales and orders improved marginally. Had the matches been played in the evenings, there would have been a scamper. But online orders were frequent,” said Chapter 2 owner and co-founder Shiladitya Chaudhury.
