We will look at foraying into different business in India- CP Foods

What is the process for setting up or launching a new store at CP Foods?

We have a scientific approach for setting any Five-Star Chicken Store, there are two important criteria in this process - getting the right site and getting the right franchisee. We follow a franchisee selection form to choose the right franchisee, where a candidate has to meet the desired criteria for becoming Five-Star Chicken franchisee. And in parallel, a lot of emphasis is given on choosing the right location which is verified based on the catchment analysis form for a profitable business. Once the site and franchisee is chosen and signed, the site is handed to the Five-Star Chicken Projects team for designing and fit outs execution by our approved vendor.

With all the legal documents each store takes approximately 20 -25 days to be ready for operations. Initially, Five-Star Chicken supports the franchisee with required marketing elements for brand building, visibility and setting the operations. Further to which, the Five-Star Chicken operations team supports the franchisees with all the day-to-day activities regularly.

Why are you focusing on expanding to small towns? Is the market in metros saturated now?

Our plan is to encourage local entrepreneurs in metros as well as in smaller towns. Franchising provides great opportunity for entrepreneurs to start their own business. So, nearly 90 per cent of our outlets are franchisee owned and operated.  We want to double our outlets to 500 from present 260 in the next three to four years via expanding in metros as well as smaller towns and via the franchising route. CP Foods in India has 260 Five-Star Chicken stores in Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore, Kochi, Salem, Kozhikode, Goa and Hyderabad.  We are looking at Telangana and AP for our next expansion besides continuing to grow in regions which are already there.

Tell us about your plans for foraying into frozen and packaged food market in the next two years? How will it pan out?

We will look at foraying into different business and markets in India and this will be one of them in the next two years.

Elaborate on poultry and aqua, CPF’s two major businesses in India in terms of production and revenue mix from two categories?

CP Group has invested around $500 million since 1993 in India on poultry and seafood, towards CPF's two major businesses here - poultry and aqua. The company boasts of seven chicken feed mills and hundreds of poultry farms in south India, Maharashtra, Haryana and Punjab. As part of its aqua (seafood) business, CPF is involved in shrimp production. It produces shrimp feed, besides offering training and know-how to contract farmers who produce black and white shrimps for export. CPF claims to enjoy a 55 per cent market share in the Indian shrimp feed segment. The annual revenues from both poultry and seafood businesses are $300 million each, with the former growing at 10-15 per cent and the latter at 20-25 per cent.

Would you be extending your training programmes for farmers producing other than prawns?

We currently have training programmes for Poultry farmers as well as our Five-Star franchisees and their staff. We will continue to focus on these.

What are your investment plans for next two years’ horizon and where would that be allocated?

CPF India will be investing between $50-100 million in different kinds of businesses every year whether it is Poultry, Aqua or Foods division from 2015 onwards to continue to focus on its India business growth.

Any local or regional brand you are planning to acquire? Any plans on inorganic growth?

We are open to this. However, there is nothing in the pipeline yet.