Bengaluru, April 9 -- At an Ikea store in India, a shopper's journey often ends where it quietly begins again-with a tray of food.

"Food is a major driver of traffic for us. It's among the biggest reasons customers walk into our stores," Adosh Sharma, country commercial manager at Ikea India, told Mint in an interview.

What started as an in-store convenience has evolved into a core lever for footfall, repeat visits and customer engagement. Now, Ikea wants to scale its F&B (food and beverage) offerings further, sharpening focus on footfall-led growth and store productivity, Sharma said.

Part of this approach is to anchor visits around routine and family engagement. "It starts with kids' meals-we run 'Happy Wednesdays' where children com...