Carlsberg's Indian Business Fell In Terms Of Volume Growth

Sula Vineyards Limited, India's leading wine producer, has announced its highest-ever Q1 net revenue, marking a significant milestone for the company. The results highlight strong performance across its Brands despite challenges faced in wine consumption and tourism due to several dry days and extreme weather conditions.

Wine Tourism includes room revenue, sale of food and beverages, merchandise, and other ancillary products/services, excluding on-site wine sales.

Sula CEO Rajeev Samant stated, "We are pleased to announce our highest ever Q1 net revenue, although wine consumption and tourism during the quarter were impacted by several dry days nationwide and locally during the Lok Sabha elections and the scorching weather conditions."

Samant also announced the appointment of Omprakash Singh as Head of Marketing. "With a wealth of experience in various FMCG, e-commerce, and media companies like L&K Saatchi and Saatchi and Shemaroo, we're confident Omprakash is the right person to lead Sula's expanded marketing initiatives moving forward." 

Additionally, the company will begin bottling at a new unit in Maharashtra, the recently acquired ND Wines facility, this month.

Sula, which boasts a portfolio of over 50 labels across more than 10 brands, has decided to transition its Economy and Popular brands to a third-party sales force model in Maharashtra, starting with Mumbai and Pune. This strategy, previously successful in Karnataka and Telangana, will allow Sula’s sales force to focus exclusively on the priority Elite and Premium brands.

Despite the blow of pandemic restrictions in 2020, Yum Brands’ earnings for the year topped analysts’ estimates.

The company’s Q4 2020 revenue grew by 3% year-over-year (YoY) to $1.74 billion, higher than the expected $1.72 billion. For the full year, digital sales rose by 45% to $17 billion, according to the research data analyzed and published by Stock Apps,

Based on an NPD Group report, restaurant digital orders in the US shot up by 145% YoY in December 2020. By the end of the year, carry-out accounted for 46% of off-premises orders and drive-thrus got 44%.

US Digital Restaurant Market Sales Rose by 124% in 2020 to $45 Billion

Yum Brands launched a series of initiatives to speed up its digitalization process in 2020. For KFC, a new eCommerce ecosystem streamlined off-premises order handling. As a result, transaction times at the window reduced by 16 seconds in Q4 2020 compared to Q4 2019.

The Habit added curbside pickup, which accounted for 10% of all sales and 50% of mobile sales. Through its Go Mobile ecosystem, Taco Bell saw drive-thru transaction times drop below four minutes. Thanks to these investments, Pizza Hut saw an 18% growth in same-store sales from off-premise channels. Taco Bell reported a 12% digital sales mix while The Habit had a 40% sales mix from its digital platform.

McDonald's also benefitted from a shift to digital, generating $10 billion from online sales across its top six markets in 2020. They accounted for 20% of the company’s total annual sales. Chipotle also posted a 177.2% YoY increase in digital sales during Q4 2020, reaching $781.4 million.

According to eMarketer, digital restaurant market sales in the US rose by 123.8% in 2020 to $44.94 billion. In 2021, it is projected to increase by 22.3% to $54.97 billion and in 2022, by16.3% to $63.93 billion.

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited (JFL) has reported its financial results for the quarter and nine-months ended 31st December 2019.

Operating Revenues for Q3 FY20 stood at Rs 10,596 million, a growth of 14.1% over Q3 FY19. Like for Like (LFL) Sales growth for Domino’s Pizza stood at 7.2% for the quarter. Same-Store Growth (SSG) for Domino’s Pizza was 5.9%, on a high base of 14.6% last year.

Growth was driven by a strong performance in Delivery, especially online sales. Online sales now contribute to 87% of Delivery sales. The Domino’s App saw 4.1 million downloads during the quarter.

The launch of the Masala Pizza range also helped drive sales during the quarter, with the performance of the innovation significantly exceeding internal targets.

EBITDA for Q3FY20 stood at Rs 2,536 million, at 23.9% of revenue. Profit after Tax in Q3 FY20 was at Rs 1,037 million, at 9.8% of revenue.

During the quarter, the business faced significant inflationary headwinds, especially in Dairy. However, the strong focus on driving operating efficiencies ensured that the business delivered sequential improvement in operating margins.

The store opening momentum further accelerated during the quarter. A total of 47 stores were opened during the quarter, 44 for Domino’s Pizza, 2 for Dunkin’ Donuts and 1 for Hong’s Kitchen. This was the highest store opening count in 20 quarters.

Domino’s Pizza Bangladesh continued to do very well. During the quarter, the company opened its third store in Bangladesh.

Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman, and Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited said, “We have maintained strong growth momentum despite a slowdown in consumption trends. This was driven by our increased focus on the basics of the business while elevating the customer experience. We will continue to emphasize our key pillars of growth to deliver sustained growth going forward.”

Pratik Pota, CEO and Whole-time Director, Jubilant FoodWorks Limited, added, “We are pleased with the quarter’s performance. Faced with a challenging demand environment and unprecedented inflationary commodity trends, we delivered strong revenue growth of 14.1% and a sequential improvement in EBITDA margins. Underlining our belief in the potential of the Indian Food Service market, we stepped up the pace of new store expansion, opening 47 new stores during the quarter.”

Store Matrix

Foodtech unicorn Zomato has secured $150 million in fresh funding from existing investor Ant Financial, a subsidiary of China-based giant Alibaba. The present round of funding is a part of Zomato’s larger $500 million fund raise.

With the latest fundraise, the food delivery platform has received $840 million in funding to date. Post this funding, the total valuation of CEO Deepinder Goyal-led company stands at around $3 billion.

The latest fundraise comes at a time when Zomato is reportedly targeting to acquire UberEats' India business for around $400 million.

The company said, “This is to inform you that Zomato Media Private Ltd. has signed a definitive agreement to undertake a primary fund raise of up to USD 150 million from Antfin Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., which is an existing shareholder of Zomato, and/or any of its affiliates.”

“The transaction values Zomato at a pre-money valuation of $3 billion,” Zomato added.

In 2018, Zomato secured $210 million from Ant Financial, which received a 14.7% stake, and later raised the stake to 23%.

Other investors in Zomato are Info Edge India, Vy Capital, Sequoia Capital and Singapore-based Temasek.

Presently, the food delivery platform is delivering more than 1.3 million orders a day from 150,000 restaurants across India at over 10 orders per restaurant per day.

Why is food delivery trending?

In India, food trends are continuously changing with the change in eating habits of the ever-demanding consumers and the new concepts heating up the million-dollar food service industry.

From going to a restaurant over dinner or lunch, people today look out for delivery and getting their favourite food delivered to their doorstep. Similarly, rather than going to the grocery store to buy raw materials first and then cook them, customers can push a button and have their meal delivered in around 30 minutes from some of their favourite restaurants.

Seeking this opportunity not only the aggregators or delivery players who started this trend are betting big on this model but restaurants and food players are also eyeing this as the next ground to invest in.

Pros of food delivery

Placing orders online or on such apps proved beneficial for everyone. There are special discounts for new customers or discounts at various restaurants, always going on. A restaurant finder app can easily help you avail such discounts.

Brands and outlets have also started tying up with food delivery and hyperlocal mobile as getting listed on third-party Aggregators has proven very fruitful for them.

Beer Cafe, which is run by BTB Marketing, has crossed the Rs. 100-crore sales mark during FY19, posting a 12% increase in revenues about seven years after it launched its first outlet.

The brand’s per store gross sales of Rs 3 crore on an average was at par with Starbucks and significantly higher than other quick service restaurant startups like Chaayos. As of March 2019, Beer Café was having nearly 36 outlets.

Rahul Singh, Founder of BTB Marketing, which posted a net loss of Rs 19 crore during the year, said, “Most brands in the sector prefer to remain regional but we were determined to be ubiquitous. We are already in 16 cities now in a sector that is highly regulated and complex.”

Beer Cafe’s per square feet revenue at Rs 19,000 is higher than most restaurants, helping them make a profit at store level despite high taxes and regulations in the sector.

Beer Cafe was the first company in the beer quick service restaurant space, which also saw marquee tea and coffee brands, Chaayos and Starbucks, foray into the same year in 2012.

Taxation on Beer

In India, the alcoholic-beverage industry, including beer, is heavily regulated, with excise and other taxes forming an important source of revenue for state governments. Due to this, it is difficult for most companies and retailers to register higher profits.

The beer attracts the highest taxation of any beverage in the country, with only 5% alcohol in beer on average. Furthermore, beer retails from as low as Rs 36 for a Kingfisher beer bottle in Goa to Rs 115 in Madhya Pradesh, indicating how there is a huge price disparity for the same brand.

“With equity infusion of just Rs 84 crore till now, we have done gross revenue of over Rs 500 crore since we started. The burn has come down significantly and the leverage is kicking in,” Singh stated.

Indian Beer Market

As per the report, India Beer Market Overview, 2018-2023, The Indian Alcoholic beverages market observed the highest market share of Whisky which is followed by brandy & beer. Indian Beer market has a market share of 17%, being third in the Indian alcohol beverages market.

The rise in disposable income of the Indian population has somewhere led the consumers to shift from standard beers to premium and craft beers. The population is turning more brand conscious, offering numerous business opportunities to entrepreneurs.

The beer consumption in India, in volume terms, is less than 1.5% of global beer volumes, while spirits consumption is as much as 12%. Also, the country’s per capita beer consumption at around 2 litres per annum remains materially below other markets.

Shadowfax, the Flipkart-backed on-demand logistics company, is diversifying its offerings. The company has entered into launched a cloud kitchen vertical.

The new vertical permits local restaurant brands of a city to be housed under one roof to cook delivery-only meals. This food can then be ordered through online food aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato.  

The Bengaluru-based firm’s new service directly competes with Swiggy’s cloud kitchen business, Swiggy Access. This service basically offers a kitchen space to restaurants to be able to make more sales without having to invest in infrastructure.

Shadowfax has started the cloud kitchen with Pune. The company already has around 20 restaurant brands on board.

Shadowfax’s cloud kitchen business is expected to be spun off as a separate entity over the next few months. It is also in the process of raising funds separately.

A person aware of the development said, “The company in talks with a few venture capitals to raise up to $20 million for its cloud kitchen business.”

The cloud kitchen business of the company has been operational from past three-and-a-half months, clocking about Rs 3 crore in sales in November. It is being spearheaded by Gaurav Jaythlia and Milind Sharma.

Rebel Foods, which owns and operates multi-brand cloud kitchen brands, has over doubled its topline in the financial year 2018-19, however, its losses widen, as the Mumbai-based company continues to focus on expanding its reach and broadens its offering.

The company reported a net loss of Rs 130.64 crore for the year ended March 31, 2019, up from a net loss of Rs 74.44 crore in fiscal 2018. Rebel Foods owns and operates an estimated 2,100 internet restaurants and 275 cloud kitchens spread across three countries

Rebel Foods’ other expenses, including marketing and promotional spends, among other items, increased 147% to Rs 191.81 crore, as it started expanding at a rapid pace across South-East Asia and the Middle-East, particularly in Indonesia and Dubai.

Rebel Foods looked to invest $30-$40 million in infrastructure, expansion and automation. It also focused on doubling down its nine in-house brands, including Faasos, Behrouz Biriyani, Oven Story, Firangi Bake and Mandarin Oak, among others.

The company is competing with the likes of Naspers-backed Swiggy and Zomato, both of which also operate their own cloud kitchen infrastructure.

Varun Beverages, a bottling partner of PepsiCo India, has reported 83.73% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 81.12 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2019. The company had posted a profit of Rs 44.15 crore in the year-ago period.

Varun Beverages’ revenue from operations during the quarter stood at Rs 1,776.85 crore as compared to Rs 1,204.47 crore in July-September 2018. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 54.2% to Rs 325.66 crore from Rs 211.24 crore.

The company is following the January-December financial year.

Ravi Jaipuria, Chairman of Varun Beverages, said, “Our India business has delivered organic volume growth of 17.5 per cent and our international territories have registered a 27 per cent growth led by exceptional performance in under-penetrated territories acquired in 2017 and early 2018.”

“Moreover, our key markets like Morocco, Zimbabwe, Nepal and Sri Lanka also reported double-digit growth in the current quarter,” he added.

The company has been associated with PepsiCo for more than 27 years, accounting for 80% of the US firm's beverage sales volume in India.

Pernod Ricard, the maker of Absolut vodka and Chivas Regal scotch, has reported a 27% jump in its India revenues in FY18-19, highlighting the strong demand for its premium brands on a favourable base.

However, the French liquor firm's profit growth at 6% slowed down significantly due to increased taxation and one-upmanship with its largest rival Diageo.

In the year-to-March 2019, the world's second largest distiller had gross sales of 20,335 crore. The company’s growth numbers surpassed Diageo's Indian business, which rose 10% in revenues at 28,512 during the same period.

Pernod’s net profit at 1,303 crore was nearly double that of its larger rival United Spirits (659 crore) during the year. USL has more than 100 brands in its portfolio like Bagpiper and DSP Black and the top 15 brands contribute over 80% to its sales, led by McDowell and Celebration.

Zomato is expecting tier III and IV cities to contribute 50% of its monthly order volume by March 2020 from the current 35%, as it strengthens footprint across India.

Currently, the food ordering platform is present in 556 cities and towns in the country.

Deepinder Goyal, Co-Founder & CEO, Zomato, said, “Most of Zomato's cities and towns beyond the top 15 markets run profitably, and contribute to more than a third of our revenue. These cities currently contribute 35 per cent to our monthly order volume which will increase to 50 per cent by the time we expand to more than 700 cities (March 2020).”

“While average order value is lower in non-metro cities by 20 per cent, the cost of delivery is lower by 50 per cent making the economics superior in comparison to the metro cities. By all measures, our delivery business economics in non-metro cities is superior to metro cities,” he added.

The company is also committed to develop cloud kitchens to bridge the supply gap.

Goyal further stated, “In the same breath, I want to re-emphasise that we will never compete with our restaurateur partners – we will only build the kitchens – but they will be operated by restaurant brands.”

US-based Burger King has reported a 66% increase in sales in India in the year to March 2019. The burger chain also significantly narrowed its losses. The development comes on the back of aggressive expansion, entry-level pricing and largest vegetarian menu within global quick service restaurant chains.

In FY18-19, the QSR chain posted sales of Rs 644 crore while its losses reduced to Rs 16 crore. It forayed into the Indian market in 2014.

India has been the fastest growing market for Burger King in terms of store expansion. Last fiscal, the QSR chain added about 58 stores, taking the store count to 187.

Rajeev Varma, CEO, Burger King India, said, “Even before we started the first restaurant, we were clear that Burger King’s offerings need to be truly Indian. Our menu width means we are able to offer burgers that cater to the Indian palate and attract customers looking for everyday value.”

“In the last five years, we have focused on a strong expansion plan through strategic investment in brand building and national supply chain development and operational efficiencies,” he added.

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Biryani By Kilo (BBK) is planning to double its revenue by next year.

The brand aims to achieve this target by exporting the famous ‘handi’ biryani to the United Arab Emirates and the UK. It will also experiment with healthier variants like quinoa biryani and brown rice Biryani.

Vishal Jindal, Co-Founder & Director, Biryani By Kilo, said, “We are opening three outlets every month and are looking to expand our presence to 40-50 outlets in north India by next April-May. We are also getting massive franchise inquiries from the UAE and UK, so next year we will go international and hope to hit the Rs 100 crore.”

Starting with two outlets in 2015, BBK has now grown to about 25 outlets in 2019. At present, the biryani chain has 14 outlets in Delhi-NCR, five in Bombay, three in Punjab, one in Jaipur and one each opening in Lucknow and Dehradun next month.

In June, BBK had raised Series A funding of $5 million led by IvyCap Ventures. It will be doing a Series B round next year to take the company on its journey from Rs 100 crore upwards.

BBK is constantly innovating around the product too.

“We make three variants all the time, Hyderabadi, Lucknowi, and Kolkata biryani. But we have also done Malabar and Ambur biryani for a short time. So this means that the kind of experimentation and innovation we are doing, not many companies are doing,” Jindal stated.

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Zomato, an online food delivery and restaurant discovery platform, has posted over a three-fold jump in its revenue at $205 million for the first half of the financial year 2019-20. The restaurant aggregator had earned $63 million in the first six months of the financial year 2018-19.

Foodtech unicorn has also reduced its burn rate by about 40% in the first six months of the current financial year. It clocked 214 million orders worth $821 million during the period ending in September 2019.

Zomato was co-founded by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008.

The company’s orders jumped by 290% to 214 million during the first half of FY20 as compared to 55 million in the first half of FY19. The gross merchandise volume of these orders spiked 223% to $821 million from $254 million in the year-ago period.

Zomato said, “We achieved tremendous results in optimising our costs, without affecting new product launches or innovation. Our order volumes in top 15 cities have doubled in the last 12 months; while the remaining cities already contribute 35 per cent to our order volumes.”

Zomato’s active gold members have grown by 180%. Its monthly active restaurants have increased by 177% in H1FY20.

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Yum! Brands has reported system sales growth for its KFC and Pizza Hut brands in India by 22% and 9%, respectively, for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019. This is the eleventh consecutive quarter of positive system sales growth for both brands in the country.

The fast food company measures growth through system sales, that includes the results of all restaurants regardless of ownership, including company-owned and franchise restaurants.

Samir Menon, Managing Director, KFC India, said, “The quarter ending June (Q2 2019) marked the eleventh consecutive quarter of positive system sales growth, with a 22% system sales growth, for India and area countries. The results signify the brand’s continued positive momentum for the last three years.”

Besides Pizza Hut and KFC, Yum! also runs the Taco Bell brand of fast food globally.

Earlier in 2019, Taco Bell has announced plans to launch 600 restaurants over the next 10 years, to make India its largest market outside the US. The plan comes after the company signed New-Delhi based Burman Hospitality Pvt Ltd as its master franchise partner for the brand in India.

Ankush Tuli, Managing Director, Taco Bell APAC, stated, “Taco Bell is gaining significant momentum in India, with a strong quarter of double-digit same-store sales growth. This happened on the back of value offerings such as the Big Bell Box and introduction of global innovations like the Quesalupa.”

Varun Beverages Limited (VBL), one of the largest franchisee of PepsiCo worldwide, has reported a growth in its revenue from operations of 36.5% year-on-year to Rs 2,810 crore in the second quarter of 2019 (April to June).

The company’s profit after tax rose by 32% to Rs 405 crore in Q2 2019 from Rs 307 crore in Q2 2018, while its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 37% to Rs 788 crore from Rs 575 crore.

VBL’s total sales volumes saw a jump of 43.3% year-on-year at 195.5 million cases in Q2 CY19 as compared to 136.4 million unit cases in Q2 CY18.

Ravi Jaipuria, Chairman of Varun Beverages, said, "We have made rapid progress with the consolidation of the recently acquired territories in south and west regions, and also those acquired last year. This demonstrates our strong execution capabilities, efficiency of our operations and operating leverage."

Varun Beverages produces and distributes a wide range of carbonated soft drinks and a large selection of non-carbonated beverages like packaged drinking water sold under trademarks owned by PepsiCo.

Bingo, one of the fastest-growing food brands for ITC, is now nearly Rs 2,500 crore brand by consumer spend from just little over Rs 1,000 crore in 2017.

Bingo! has more than doubled its turnover going by consumer spends while Aashirvaad, another fastest-growing food brands for ITC, has crossed Rs 4,500 crore mark.

The FMCG-to-tobacco-to-hotel giant has witnessed a gross turnover of Rs 9,670 crore from foods business. 

ITC said, “Classmate is over Rs 1,400 crore; YiPPee! is over Rs 1,100 crore while Vivel, Mangaldeep and ‘Candyman’ are over Rs 500 crores each. These world-class Indian brands support the competitiveness of domestic value chains of which they are apart, ensuring creation and retention of value within the country. Company’s FMCG brands have achieved impressive market standing in a relatively short span of time.”

“Company’s vibrant food brands such as Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Bingo!, YiPPee! and B Natural amongst others, enable strong forward linkages for domestic agri-value chains, thereby enhancing their competitiveness and making a meaningful contribution to boost farmer earnings. Encouraged by consumer response, the company is scaling up presence in juices, chocolates, coffee and dairy in a calibrated fashion,” it further stated. 

Parag Milk Foods is aiming a revenue of up to Rs 160 crore this financial year on better demand for its products in the northern market. The Mumbai-based company earned a revenue of about Rs 70 crore last fiscal from its manufacturing facility in Sonipat, Haryana, which it acquired from Danone.

In April 2018, Parag Milk acquired Sonepat plant and started commercial operations in August for expanding its footprint in the north and northeast India. The company at present has three plants in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana with a total processing capacity of 2.9 million litres per day. 

Devendra Shah, Chairman of Parag Milk Foods, said, "Our Sonipat plant is doing very well. It contributed Rs 65-70 crore to our total turnover during the last fiscal. We are targeting a revenue of Rs 130-160 crore during the current financial year."

During 2018-19 fiscal, Parag Milk reported a 22.6% rise in its consolidated revenue from operations to Rs 2,395.7 crore.

"We are currently processing about 60,000 litres per day of milk in the Sonipat plant which is being sourced from Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan. The company expected to reach 100 per cent capacity utilisation of over 1 lakh litre per day in the next financial year," Shah added.

Dairy major Heritage Foods Pvt Ltd is planning to increase the business share of value-added products (VAP) from the present 22% in its current portfolio to 40% within four years. In order to achieve this, the company looks to come up with new varieties of yogurts, butter milk, lassi, flavoured milk and ice cream.

Recently, Heritage Foods signed a joint venture with Nova Dine, the French dairy company, to foray into the fruit flavored yoghurt domain for increasing its VAP range.

Brahmani Nara, ED, Heritage Foods, said, “As a leading dairy brand with a strong presence in South India, we strengthened our presence in the northern region after acquiring Reliance Dairy. We believe Heritage is smartly straddling the high-returns pouch milk segment and high-growth and margin accretive medium shelf life curd and yogurt segment. We plan on focusing on segments that entail high margins and low working capital.”

The company achieved consolidated revenues of Rs 16.8 crore for the quarter period ending 31st December 2018.

“The company’s vision is to achieve a turnover of Rs 6000 crore by FY 2022. This would require a 20% to 25% growth rate,” Nara stated.

She added, “We have undertaken various strategies to achieve this goal. This includes setting up a greenfield yoghurt plant by 2019 to improve the contribution from the VAP segment to 40% by 2022. Additionally, we want to increase our market presence by increasing our capacities in procurement, processing and packaging.”

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which sells milk and milk products under the Amul brand, is eyeing to garner a business turnover of Rs 50,000 crore by 2020-21.

Amul is aiming to establish itself as the largest dairy organisation in the world. Currently, it is the ninth-largest dairy organisation globally.

The GCMMF has posted a sales turnover of Rs 33,150 crore for the financial year 2018-19, which is 13% higher than the previous financial year.

Ramsinh Parmar, Chairman of GCMMF, said, “In the past nine years, milk procurement by GCMMF member milk cooperatives witnessed an increase of 153 per cent. This enormous growth was a result of the high milk procurement price paid to our farmer-members which has increased by 105 per cent in this period.”

“The time was ripe for the second white revolution given that the demand for milk in India is seen going up to 65 crore litres per day in 2050-51 from the current level of 48 crore litres per day, given urbanisation and population growth estimates. This means that India's milk production needs to grow at around 3.2 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for the next 40 years. This can be possible only when dairy farmers are given stable and remunerative prices through proper market linkage,” he added.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), marketing dairy products under the Amul brand, is eyeing 20% increase in its revenue to Rs 40,000 crore this fiscal, helped by growth in volume and value terms.

The dairy firm reported a 13% rise in its turnover at Rs 33,150 crore during 2018-19 as compared to Rs 29,225 crore in the previous fiscal.

RS Sodhi, Managing Director, Amul, said, “In the last financial year, our revenue growth was because of higher volume and there was no price increase across our product portfolio. But, in this year, we are expecting growth in both volume and value terms. We are expecting 20 percent growth in turnover during 2019-20.”

“The milk procurement prices have gone up in the last few months in states like Maharashtra. We were paying our farmers higher prices when milk procurement prices declined in many states. So there will be no impact on us,” he added.

GCMMF had recently announced that the provisional unduplicated group revenue of Amul Federation and its 18 member unions crossed Rs 45,000 crore in 2018-19, up 13% from the previous year.

Varun Beverages Limited (VBL), one of the largest franchisee of PepsiCo worldwide, has reported 24% increase in its revenue from operations to Rs 1,359 crore in the first quarter of 2019 (January to March). The company posted a revenue of Rs 1,095 crore in the year-on period.

VBL’s total sales volumes are up 12.3% at 9.03 crore unit cases in Q1 2019 in comparison with 8.04 crore unit cases in Q1 2018. Its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) grew by 26.5% to Rs 218.4 crore from Rs 172.7 crore.

Ravi Jaipuria, Chairman of Varun Beverages Limited, said, "We have concluded the acquisition of franchise rights in south and west regions from PepsiCo for a national bottling, sales and distribution footprint in seven states and five union territories."

"This consolidates our dominant position as a key player in the beverage industry. VBL now accounts for more than 80 per cent PepsiCo India's beverage sales volumes in India from 51 per cent earlier, and has expanded its presence to 27 states and seven union territories across India," he added.

Mother’s Recipe, one of India’s leading Indian food brands, is planning to double the growth by expanding its foodservice division (HORECA) in the current fiscal. In the foodservice division, the firm has products under its flagship brand, Mother’s Recipe Foodservice.

At present, Mother’s Recipe has operations across prominent markets such as Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bubhaneshwar, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, with their own distribution network and sales team. It is catering to various segments of foodservice, including star hotels, restaurants and caterers, fine dining to QSRs as well as railways and airlines.

Sanjana Desai, Chief Strategy Officer of Mother’s Recipe, said, “The Indian foodservice sector has witnessed a rapid growth in the past decade. According to recent reports, the Indian foodservice market is currently pegged at Rs 5 lakh crore and is estimated to grow at a rate of 12 percent during the forecast period 2018-2023. As a brand, we have been focusing on building the appropriate infrastructure to ensure timely delivery and consistency in taste and a superior quality of products which are essential for this segment.”

“In the last five years, we have been aggressively focusing on investing in product development and distribution infrastructure. Currently, we reach out to close to 4,000 key accounts and plan to increase the numbers to more than 8,000 accounts in markets which are operational. Currently, the foodservice division contributes only around 5-6 percent of our overall India business, however, we have witnessed a rapid 50 percent growth in FY 18-19. Going forward, we plan to double our business in FY 19-20 and in the next five years we are targeting to contribute to over 20 percent of our overall Indian business,” she added.

Britannia Industries has posted an 11.82% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 294.27 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2019. In the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, the company had reported a net profit of Rs 263.16 crore.

Britannia’s total income during the period under review stood at Rs 2,860.75 crore as compared to Rs 2,581.93 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Varun Berry, Managing Director of Britannia Industries, said, "We continued the momentum in the base business through distribution expansion, heightened innovation and cost-efficiency programmes." 

Britannia has launched new categories that are in line with its goal to become a 'Total Foods Company'.

The company's net profit was at Rs 1,155.46 crore as against Rs 1,003.96 crore for the fiscal ended March 2019.

"We have witnessed a slowdown in the market place in the recent months, however, this should get neutralised with a favourable monsoon forecast and stable government post elections. In the coming quarters, the priority will be to scale up the new categories launched to ensure we stay ahead of the market and achieve profitable growth," Berry added.

Tata Starbucks has reported that its sales grew by 30% in FY19. This has been achieved on the back of the addition of new outlets as demand for quality beverages increased in Indian metro cities.

Tata Starbucks, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Starbucks, posted sales of Rs 346 crore in FY18. It had garnered revenue of about Rs 450 crore during the last fiscal.

Last year, the Seattle-based coffee chain added about 30 stores. Now, it has a store count of 146. Tata Starbucks unveiled 15 cafes just last quarter.

Started operations in India in October 2012, Starbucks recorded the fastest store expansion in the company’s history in the initial few years.

Himanshu Nayyar and Poorvi Khandelwal, Analysts at Systematix Investments, said, “The strong double-digit growth in the Tata Starbucks JV should remain driven by the improved in-store performance with 25% store-level margins and new store rollout of about 40 additions annually.”

In order to support its strong market objectives, Barista Coffee Company Limited, one of the largest Indian coffee chains, has collaborated with a leading public relations firm, Saints Art. With this collaboration, Saints Art will support Barista with decisive and strategic services for various market penetration initiatives of the brand so as to uphold the leading position in the sector.

The chain of espresso bars has more than 200 Barista Cafe and Barista Express Kiosks across the country, including its franchise partners. Besides this, Barista Coffee Company Limited also has outlets in locations across Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Maldives.

Puneet Gulati, Chief Executive Officer, Barista, said, "We are growing at a fast pace and further plan to add more loyalty to our coffee, making sure our consumers are satisfied and increasing every day."

"Our partnership with Saints Art will help us communicate our vision and mission as per the directives as set for the Indian market," he added.

Puneet Sharma, Vice-President of Saints Art, said, "Barista, as a coffee brand, has been transforming through all these years, and consistently retained its position as a preferred brand among consumers."

"We believe our strong experience and well-thought PR strategy will bring in desired results for the brand and will further help them achieve their market objectives," he further stated.

Manpasand Beverages has posted a 1.32 percent gain in net profit at Rs 36.38 cr for the first quarter ended June 30, 2018, as against net profit of Rs 35.91 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Revenue for the quarter under review stood at Rs 340.07 crore, an increase of 9.24 percent as compared to Rs 311.30 crore it posted during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal. Earnings Per Share for the first quarter of the financial year 2019 was up 1.29 percent at Rs 3.18 per share, it said during its earnings announcement.

According to the company, the rise in net profit is not commensurate to rise in revenue mainly due to the reduction in other income and rise of depreciation (Non-Cash Item). The company is showing stable QoQ performance and is moving ahead promisingly, it said.

“Issues unrelated to operations caused some spillover and impacted our business in the month of June. Despite this challenge, we managed to perform relatively well and kept ourselves focused on expansion and product development. Operations are now back to normal and we continue to be confident about our growth plans," said Dhirendra Singh, Chairman & MD of Manpasand Beverages.

"Manpasand remains confident about the next fiscal year. Augmenting our presence through Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs), food chains, and retailers to develop stronger brand recognition for our products among consumers will continue to be the main driver of the company’s growth. The company will take this symbiotic growth approach in the coming days too. Product innovation and enhancing the distribution network will be the primary focus areas in our endeavor to create a point of differentiation amongst our local and global competitors," Singh further said.

Homegrown fruit drink maker is planning to expand other vertical with new product range launch subsuming milk-based drinks, fruit-based sugar-free drinks, glucose drinks and protein-based drinks to bring overall revenues on rise and will provide a significant boost in our growth journey across local and global markets.

Online food delivery platform Swiggy is seeking attention from existing and new investors to raise funds at a valuation of $2.3-2.5 billion, as it burns cash at a quick pace in a fight for market share in the food delivery space, three people familiar with the matter said,

Swiggy’s rival Zomato which is backed by Ant Financial could be considered as a trigger for the third round of fund raise this year. In June Swiggy had raised $210 million from a clutch of investors in a round that valued it at $1.3 billion, making the startup the fastest to enter the haloed Unicorn Club.

Swiggy was in July offered at least one term sheet with an estimated valuation of $2.5 billion. It is unclear how much money the Bengaluru-based company is planning to raise in this round, but one of the people said it could raise anywhere between $250 million and $500 million.

The Bengaluru-based firm is also planning to raise up to $500 million, valuation may hit $2.5 billion. The round may also see the participation of Some of Swiggy’s early investors, the people said.

Swiggy held talks with a host of new investors including SoftBank, growth equity firm General Atlantic and a couple of Chinese hedge funds for the new round. The Chinese funds are probably Tybourne Capital and Hillhouse Capital, a person said. ET could not independently verify the names.

Jubilant FoodWorks reported a three-fold jump in net profit to Rs 74.67 crore in the first quarter of the financial year 2018-19 ending June 30 as compared to Rs 23.84 crore the company posted during the same period last year.

Operating revenue for first quarter of the fiscal year 2019 jumped 26 percent to Rs 855 crore. The operator of Dominos Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts reported operating revenue of Rs 678 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The growth was on the back of a strong same-store-growth of 25.9% in Domino’s Pizza, the company said during its earnings announcement.

“We are pleased to start the year on a strong note with our robust performance in Q1 FY19. The strong growth in Domino’s came on the back of a superior product, Value for money delivery and growing digital contribution. This together with our focus on achieving break-even in Dunkin’ Donuts by the end of the financial year will continue to drive profitable growth for us," said Shyam S. Bhartia, Chairman, and Hari S. Bhartia, Co-Chairman, Jubilant FoodWorks.

According to the company, the strong performance in Q1 FY19 was on account of a good response to the Every Day Value offer on Regular Pizzas launched in March 2018, and which was supported aggressively during the IPL T20 cricket season.

“We delivered a strong quarter in both Domino’s and Dunkin’ Donuts. In Domino’s, the extension of EDV to Regular Pizzas received a very good response with an increase in both new customer acquisition as well as existing customer frequency. Dunkin’ Donuts too saw encouraging growth and made good progress towards profitability on the back of successful innovations and disciplined cost management,” said Pratik Pota, CEO and Whole-time Director, Jubilant FoodWorks.

During the quarter under review, the company opened 13 new Domino's Pizza outlets and closed three stores. The company also opened one new Dunkin' Donuts outlet during the quarter.

Uber Eats, the online food serving app launched by Uber in May last year, is experiencing a nearly 50 percent month-on-month (MoM) growth in its first year of operations in India.

The number of orders in the last three months has more than doubled, the company said in a statement.

“Uber Eats has gained great momentum in India and is one of its fastest growing markets in the Asia Pacific region. We look forward to accelerating this growth further on and India has huge opportunities to offer,” said Bhavik Rathod, Head of Uber Eats, India.

Uber Eats is focused on expanding its footprint to additional Tier 2 markets in the coming month, the statement added.

It has grown its presence in India by expanding to 13 cities and adding more than 40 restaurants daily onto its platform.

The leading casual dining restaurant chains in India, Barbeque Nation has registered 29% year-on-year growth in last 4 years.

The brand has credited constant menu innovation, food festivals, operational efficiencies at the backend and tapping the potential of metro, tier 1 and select tier 2 and 3 cities for its achievement in the sales.

Barbeque Nation’s fixed price menu format has helped the brand, excel both in CDR segment and restaurant market within the Indian food and services industry. The brand has successfully established itself as a popular choice, not just for family dinners, but also corporate lunches, owing to strategic locations of outlets, fine ambiance, and competitive pricing.

The brand’s revenues also comprise of weekday sales, weekday sales, lunch which covers a higher portion of the brand’s revenues. The restaurant also attracts diners in groups with the reservation option through the ‘Barbeque Nation App’, which has so far been downloaded by over 7,80,000 people.

Barbeque Nation has added 64 restaurants, crossing the 100th milestone recently, with a launch at Dimapur in Nagaland In the last four years. The brand began operations overseas in 2016, with the launch of 3 outlets in Dubai and is focusing on a few other countries in the region.

“From the launch of our first outlet in 2006 to the 100th this year, Barbeque Nation has come a long way in offering an unmatched dining experience to its guests.  We have contributed significantly to defining and shaping the casual dining experience in the country with our unique proposition of, DIY live on-the-table-grill and have served over 24 million patrons over the last 4 years. With constant innovation and a penchant for experimentation, we are now charting the next phase of growth in our journey.” said Kayum Dhanani, Managing Director, Barbeque Nation Hospitality Ltd.

The social and digital media which has enhanced the customer engagement has also contributed chain CDR segment grew at a CAGR of 19% between fiscal 2013 and 2017.

India’s dairy manufacturer Ananda today said it plans to invest Rs 10 crore to launch about 150 stores in Kanpur by financial year 2018-19, as part of its Rs 500 crore investments committed in Uttar Pradesh.

In addition to its six already present in the city, Ananda has revealed two company owned company operated (COCO) stores.

The company, which is stepping up for expanding its retail presence rapidly to augment its market share, last month announced opening 500 retail COCO outlets by the end of next fiscal in states like Delhi-NCR, Haryana, UP and Punjab.

"We see a huge potential in the Kanpur market and are certain that the city will play a huge role in our expansion plans for Uttar Pradesh," Ananda Group Chairman Radhey Shyam Dixit said.

The company expressed its plans to launch an average of 10 COCO stores on a monthly basis.

Headquartered in Noida, Ananda has a current production capacity of over 12 lakh litres of milk a day. It sells over 50 products and has presence in most of the diary products, except ice creams.