Zest Bespoke Catering has won Platinum in the "Trendsetting Food Design" category at the WeddingSutra Influencer Awards 2026, recognition for the way it has redrawn what wedding catering can look like in India.
The award reflects Zest's founding philosophy: food at a wedding shapes the memory of the day as much as the venue or the vows do.
Since 2014, Zest — the gourmet experiential arm of Embassy Leisure — has built menus for gatherings as small as 20 guests and as large as 2,000, treating each one as its own brief rather than a variation on a template. Seasonality, guest lists, the shape of the venue, the mood the couple wants: all of it goes into what ends up on the plate.
Indian weddings have changed, and the food has changed with them. Guests fly in from three continents, expect gourmet Indian and fusion fare alongside familiar comfort dishes, and increasingly hold dietary lines that barely factored into wedding planning a decade ago. Zest has built its reputation on live stations and tightly edited menus, and on pulling off dinners for thousands that still feel intentional rather than assembly-line.
Parthip Thyagarajan, CEO and co-founder of WeddingSutra, said: "Food has always been an integral part of hospitality at Indian weddings. Over the last few years, this has turned up a notch, with families and couples wanting to serve their guests—who are well-traveled and live across the globe—gourmet Indian fine dining and fusion fare while still accommodating health and dietary restrictions. Zest has balanced all these 'ingredients' beautifully, delivering their guests a culinary experience they will remember for a long time."
Collin Pereira of Zest Bespoke Catering said: "It's an honor to win this award. WeddingSutra has been a community that has nurtured the wedding industry for 26 years, and it keeps the bar high. This recognition tells us we're headed in the right direction, and we'll keep delivering the highest quality to our guests."
The WeddingSutra Influencer Awards recognize individuals and brands across weddings, fashion, beauty, luxury and lifestyle who are shaping how India celebrates. For Zest, the Platinum win adds a formal marker to an argument it's been making one wedding at a time: that catering deserves the same design attention as the flowers, the venue or the dress.
