Electric Cooking for Street Food Vendors: Evidence from Field Deployment and Business Implications

We are pleased to invite you to the 11th session of the Talk Series – Phase IV on Modern Energy Cooking titled “Electric Cooking for Street Food Vendors: Evidence from Field Deployment and Business Implications”. This session will be conducted online on 14th May 2026 and is being organised by the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme, UK, through its in-country partner Finovista.

India’s street food ecosystem represents one of the largest informal food economies globally, with estimates suggesting that nearly 10 million street food vendors and micro-enterprises operate across the country, providing affordable snacks/meals and supporting millions of livelihoods.

Cooking operations within this sector rely heavily on LPG and other flame-based fuels, which expose vendors to high heat, smoke, and volatile fuel costs in view of the high import dependency of LPG.

At the same time, electricity access has expanded significantly across India during the last two decades, however, electricity is still being used by these vendors primarily for lighting and for running small appliances rather than as cooking energy.

Evidence suggests that while around 70% of vendors spend only about 5% of their expenses on electricity, a significant proportion spend over 10% of their total operating costs on cooking fuels, indicating untapped potential opportunities for more efficient use of clean energy in this sector.

To better understand the feasibility of electric cooking within this context, a field deployment of electric cooking technologies was conducted, funded by the Shell Foundation, covering 760 street food vendors across Delhi and Bihar.

The aim was to study and monitor their adoption and operational patterns. The findings of the survey show that adoption occurs gradually, with vendors initially using electric appliances for tasks such as boiling or reheating before expanding their use to other cooking processes.

Over time, electric devices were increasingly integrated into daily operations, often functioning as additional burners that helped vendors manage multiple cooking tasks simultaneously during peak hours.

As familiarity increased, 82% of vendors reported using electric devices for boiling, 50% for frying, and 31% for high-flame cooking processes, demonstrating the potential versatility of electric cooking technologies in commercial food preparation.

The pilot also highlights important economic and operational implications. 88% of vendors reported saving of at least one LPG cylinder per month, while 71% reported achieving net monthly savings after accounting for electricity expenditure and reduced other fuels use.

Additionally, 75% of vendors reported income increases, often in the range of 10–20%, which they attributed to improved cooking efficiency, reduced heat exposure, and the ability to handle higher customer volumes.

These findings suggest that electric cooking technologies can support not only cleaner energy transitions but also productivity and livelihood improvements in the street food sector.

This session aims to unpack the insights emerging from this field deployment and further explore how appropriate technology design, innovative financing models, and enabling policy frameworks can drive the wider adoption of electric cooking solutions among street food vendors across the country.