'Drunken Monkey' to triple Smoothie Bar outlets to 150 by 2019
'Drunken Monkey' to triple Smoothie Bar outlets to 150 by 2019

The Hyderabad headquartered Smoothie Bar startup ‘Drunken Monkey’ with 50 outlets across 12 Indian cities, has confirmed its intent to rapidly expand the franchise chain to 150 by 2019.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Samrat Reddy, Drunken Monkey delivers blended fresh-fruit smoothies and juices in over 170 special combinations, ranging from all-natural fresh fruit shakes to decadently indulgent smoothies, from detox smoothies to meal smoothies and also a range of smoothies to cure hangovers.

Reddy said, "I wanted to do to smoothies what Starbucks did to coffee. The new generation, the millennials want to be catered to and are more willing than ever to experiment with new brands. People want a space to create meaningful social connections without restricting themselves to the regular coffee and chai outlets. Smoothies are the new social lubricant in town.”

Drunken Monkey says its fresh fruit smoothies and shakes are made from 100% natural local produce, without any artificial flavors, preservatives or even ice.

With an untapped smoothie market and given its first mover advantage in the Smoothies industry, there is still plenty of room for growth, says Reddy. On the company’s strategy for growth, he said, "We believe franchising is the best way forward as it reduces the company's capital requirements and facilitates stronger RoI on expansion.”

Reddy said, “The company is currently self-funded and has plans to explore fresh investments once it achieves 150 bars target and attains strong brand valuation. Right now, the company has positive cash on its balance sheet, no debt and ample capital to pursue growth opportunities.”

Drunken Monkey is also considering its foray into five new international markets currently under study by its research team, after the company has established dominance in the domestic market. The company also plans to introduce ‘Drunken Monkey’ smoothies in bottles in the retail market in the future.

The global smoothies market is projected to reach USD $17 Billion in 2024 and to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.59% during the period 2017-2021, the company said.

 
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CAARA and PURE HOME + LIVING Unite for Exclusive Experience at Khan Market
CAARA and PURE HOME + LIVING Unite for Exclusive Experience at Khan Market
 

CAARA and PURE HOME + LIVING (PHL) have unveiled an exclusive collaboration, reshaping the retail and culinary scene in Khan Market.

Through their innovative partnership, CAARA's  menu integrates into the lively atmosphere of PHL's store in Khan Market.

This fusion offers a setting where culinary excellence meets sophisticated home décor, timeless dinnerware, and personalized gifting options, creating a blend of design and gastronomy.

Both CAARA and PURE HOME + LIVING (PHL) offer carefully curated selections that adapt with the changing seasons, ensuring visitors enjoy a revitalizing experience with each visit.

Their specialization lies in integrating nature into indoor settings and exploring inventive color combinations to evoke the desired ambiance in your living space.

With this vision in mind, PHL has partnered with CAARA to create a restaurant space within their store, providing an ideal setting for dining and shopping simultaneously.

“It's a celebration of creativity, innovation and shared commitment between both the brands. It’s a dream to be opening in Khan Market surrounded by such a wonderfully curated brand such as PHL.” Timmy Sarna, MD and CEO of PURE HOME + LIVING said “A beautiful home begins with sharing meals on a table. PHL’s collaboration with a renowned and loved brand like CAARA will bring people together to not only shop but enjoy it like they’re at home” said Ambika Seth and Alice Helme, Co-founders.

In addition to CAARA's classic dishes, the menu features seasonal offerings, such as Corn and Kale fritters with Avocado salsa verde and French Brie & Tomato tart paired with FarmLove Salad.

Breakfast in CAARA continues to cater to early risers with a selection starting from 8am, including frothy Arabica cappuccinos, their renowned Smashed Chilli & Avocado on Sourdough, and Ham and Cheese omelets, among others.

FarmLove, nurtured by CAARA, prioritizes chemical-free fresh herbs and European vegetables. The basil pesto, freshly bottled, generously adorns the burrata pizzas, highlighting CAARA's premium ingredients.

Many of their offerings includes freshly baked breads, pasta sauces, crackers, and quick snacks, are available for purchase.

 

 

 

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Ananda Dairy opens 200 new outlets in Delhi/NCR, eyes 30% overall growth
Ananda Dairy opens 200 new outlets in Delhi/NCR, eyes 30% overall growth
 

With the commitment to provide its customers with quality dairy products at an affordable price and closer proximity, Dairy manufacturer Ananda has unveiled 200 new company outlets in the Delhi/NCR market space.

According to the reports, the company announced an investment worth Rs 10 crore, which reiterates its vision to give its valuable consumers, a direct access to the wide variety of nutritious and pure milk and milk products.

With this extensive expansion, Ananda aims to focus on an overall growth of 30 percent along with descent job creation.

The company, with its focused approach towards rapid expansion is all set to chalk its strategy to eye a bigger piece of the North market. Ananda envisions meeting its target of launching over 500 company outlets whilst achieving a projected turnover of Rs. 1,500 crore by the end of FY18.

“With the inauguration of 200 company outlets, we take pride in breaking our previous record of launching 105 Ananda outlets in one-single day. On achieving this milestone, we are delighted to make available our diverse product range, at a closer access to our consumers,” said Radhey Shyam Dixit, Founder and Chairman, Ananda Group told ANI.

With this massive single-day launch, Ananda is aiming to give its consumers a holistic experience, by opening up the company’s entire fresh and wide dairy produce range, including confectionery and bakery items for them to purchase.

Moreover, well-trained professionals, who are able to guide consumers to the right products, based on their unique dietary requirements, will staff the stores. Ananda’s philosophy is to create happier consumers with its portfolio of 75+ products that adds positive value to their health and contribute to their overall well-being.

 

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Starbucks China aims revenue to Increase thrice by 2022
Starbucks China aims revenue to Increase thrice by 2022
 

The U.S. coffee chain Starbucks Corp is planning to increase its store count in China over with a revenue target set increase thrice in next five years, doubling down on the market as traffic growth comes under pressure in the United States.

Starbucks, which recently raised $7.15 billion in a deal with Nestle SA, aims to have 6,000 stores in the country by the end of 2022, it said in a statement. It has around 3,300 stores in 141 cities in China currently.

Starbucks dominates China's coffee scene, although it is seeing more competition from smaller rivals, similar to how it is coming under pressure from a "third wave" of boutique coffee sellers and cheaper rivals in the United States.

Late last year it launched its first overseas "Reserve Roastery" - an opulent flagship store with gourmet coffees and a bakery - in Shanghai, where executive chairman Howard Schultz told Reuters store numbers in China would hit 10,000 within a decade, overtaking even the U.S. market.

Starbucks also said it expects to more than double its operating income in China over the next 5 years, relative to 2017.

It made $3.24 billion in China/Asia Pacific revenue in the past financial year while operating income was $764.8 million, according to the report calculation. A breakdown for China alone was not immediately available.

This month Starbucks struck a deal with Nestle, the world's largest food and beverage company, to give the Swiss firm exclusive rights to sell Starbucks' packaged coffees and teas around the world.

Starbucks said the alliance with Nestle would help further extend the coffee chain's reach and scale throughout China.

"Starbucks will look to leverage the recently announced global coffee alliance with Nestle to provide even more at-home options to the Chinese consumer in the future," it added.

 

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Swiggy Expands operations, to Deliver Food in Nagpur
Swiggy Expands operations, to Deliver Food in Nagpur
 

The country’s leading food ordering and delivery platform, Swiggy, has announced the expansion of services to Nagpur for increasing the customer's restaurant choices and variety at the touch of a button.

Through its services, Swiggy will bring the choicest food options in the city coupled with the superior customer experience that the brand is known for. It includes a range of legendary eateries, trendy new cafes, ice cream parlors and national and international Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) across west Nagpur such as Dharampet, Bajaj Nagar and Pratap Nagar and others.

The food server has also planned to expand to other areas in the city starting with Sadar and Sitabuldi.

"After tremendous success in Mumbai and Pune, Nagpur is the third city in Maharashtra for Swiggy," said Srivats TS, vice president marketing at Swiggy.

He added, "The city has a distinctive food culture, and we're excited to bring our lightning-fast and hassle-free ordering and delivery service here, making these delicacies accessible to consumers wherever they are,”

Nagpur is widely known for its gastronomic offerings, ranging from the unique Saoji and Varhadi cuisines to the delicious Marathi-style street food.

Popular restaurants like Haldiram's, Bula's Kitchen, Aachari, Yello, Fuel Headquarters, The Breakfast Story, Reddy's Gokul Brindavan, Khichdiwala, Zaikart will now be available on Swiggy.

The company will also offer late night delivery, post 11 pm, in the city.

With over 250 of the best restaurants on the platform already, Swiggy provides foodies with the choicest food options in the city.

To ensure consumers have access to their favorite food, Swiggy will deliver from a wider radius of as much as six km.

Consumers can not only order from these restaurants without any restrictions on the minimum order value but can also track their orders live on the Swiggy app.

With the fastest food delivery service in the country, people from Nagpur will now have their food delivered quickly, along with multiple payment options.

Further, Swiggy provides city restaurants with the tools and technology to reach new customers.

In addition to driving order volumes through the platform, partner restaurants can strengthen their delivery services, brand equity, and recall value.

Swiggy has also launched a revamped owner app for restaurants that will allow them to efficiently manage the thousands of orders they receive, through real-time updates on their performance, consumer feedback, menu analysis and so on.

"We are delighted to partner with Swiggy as they expand to Nagpur, the third largest city in Maharashtra. As a trusted brand known for its traditional snacks, we believe in hygienic ways of cooking and providing the best food to our consumers. Swiggy's advanced technology and user-friendly platform will not only help us reach a larger customer base but also deliver food that is fresh and reaches the consumers on time. Looking forward to growing together and serving the city more efficiently," said Neeraj Agarwal, director, Haldiram's Nagpur.

"We would like to heartily congratulate Swiggy for commencing their operations in Nagpur and expanding their operations across Maharashtra. We believe this collaboration would help both our businesses as we reach more food lovers in the city. We are delighted to enter into this new venture with Swiggy and look forward to increasing our customer-base in Nagpur," added Prasanna Reddy, owner, Gokul Brindavan Restaurant.

 

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Lanson Group forays into ready-to-eat snacks segment
Lanson Group forays into ready-to-eat snacks segment
 

With the launch of its B2C brand ‘Popodax’ that has a range of flavoured appalams, Lanson Group has confirmed its venture into ready-to-eat snacks segment in the Indian market with the

“The products will be available in mom and pop stores, clubs and e-commerce websites such as Amazon from May, at packs worth Rs 10 and Rs 30. The group exports appalams and variants to the UK, holding 80% market share. It also exports to the US and Australia,” says Lankalingam, chairman and innovation head, Lanson Value Added Services.

The company also supplies to FMCG brands globally, manufacturing variants of the snack in five manufacturing units spread across Chennai and Thiruchendur.

“Lanson alone makes 1.5 million appalams a day for its global customers. With the vision of ‘consumer loyalty nourished by consumer delight’ our aim is to put a smile on the faces of consumers of every age by providing them innovative snacks for their unmet needs. This is one of the main reasons, we have decided to launch our own brand of ready-to-eat mini appalams – Popodax,” added Lankalingam.

“Popodax will initially be offered in Tamil Nadu markets in stages, beginning with markets such as Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem and Trichy and will be available in retail shops from May 2018.Within the next six months, the brand will be available in about 50 towns in Tamil Nadu and will be present in 20,000 outlets within the first year. With Popodax, we would like to garner about 2% of the ready to eat snack segment in the outlets that we will be present” Popodax will be available in 6 SKU’s- 3 flavours - Classic, Tomato & Chili, and Sour Cream & Onion,” added B Nandakumar, chief mentoring officer, LVAS.

 

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Bonn Group Launches Burger Chain To Foray into Fast Food Biz
Bonn Group Launches Burger Chain To Foray into Fast Food Biz
 

The homegrown leading bread and biscuits maker Bonn Group has decided to foray into fast food restaurants business with the launch of its brand burger outlet chain La Americana.

The Ludhiana-based company operates outlets in Delhi and plans to expand the chain across many states in the next 12-18 months.

The market for the fast food business in India is currently pegged at around Rs 8,000 crore and growing at a sizzling pace of 30 percent CAGR.

“The outlets we have started in Delhi are getting very good response from the people as the taste of the burgers is very different. We will replicate the success of these outlets in others. We are confident people will love our American style burgers in other cities too. The thrust is one healthy eating and we have only fresh buns being served in the outlets,” said Amrinder Singh, Director, Bonn Group of Industries.

The outlets will also offer different types of vegetarian and non-vegetarian wraps, mojitos, iced teas, shakes, and fries. 

 “The market for fast food is growing at a very fast in India and since we are already recognized for the best of the breads and buns, we can use our long legacy in a related new business where we use our own buns for fresh burgers. The response we have got from our outlets in Delhi proves our entry into this business is right and going to be very exciting. What we are also doing with La Americana chain is that we are offering a whole range of eatables and beverages which makes us stand out from other burger chains” said Amrinder Singh said while commenting on the need to get into fast food business by the Ludhiana-based company.

The company already has a very good stronghold in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal and Jammu & Kashmir for its other products like breads, biscuits, and cakes and will expand its fast-food business in these states before entering new geographies. 

The company has also launched La Americana range of gourmet cookies. These are premium cookies that are being sold in most North Indian cities and the new range has seen the overwhelming response from the customers.

 

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Luxmi Tea Plans Expansion With 100 Makaibari Stores Across India
Luxmi Tea Plans Expansion With 100 Makaibari Stores Across India
 

Luxmi Tea, which owns the iconic Makaibari brand has decided to set up 100 exclusive stores across the country in the next three years, said a top official.

At present, there are 10 such stores located in prominent malls in the city.

"We plan to set up 100 exclusive Makaibari branded stores in the country in the next three years. During the current fiscal, the number of stores will increase to 30,” said MD Luxmi Tea, Rudra Chatterjee.

Chatterjee said all the stores would be owned by the company and manned by sons and daughters of pluckers of the Makaibari estate in Darjeeling.

"It is a long-term play and I am committed to take the brand to even greater heights," he said.

The stores will also serve the purpose of preventing the sale of fake Makaibari branded tea, which are available at various retail stores in the city.

Some of these exclusive outlets would have tea lounges, the MD said.

Owing to the prolonged agitation in Darjeeling last year, the entire Makaibari crop, except the first flush, was destroyed, leading to a loss of around Rs 3 crore, Chatterjee said.

"This year, we are expecting a good flush. All the international buyers have retained their faith in Makaibari despite its non-availability last year," he said.

The premium garden produces nearly one lakh kg of tea annually, a bulk of which are exported.

The company owns 18 tea gardens 15 in Assam and one each in Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars with an annual production of 15 million kg, which would rise to 16 million kg this year, he added.

 

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Hard Rock Cafe To start Six More outlets in three years
Hard Rock Cafe To start Six More outlets in three years
 

With its outlets gaining profits in the Indian market, US-based casual dining chain Hard Rock Cafe is planning to expand its presence in the country.

The brand will open one cafe each in Chennai and Chandigarh by the end of this year, said Sanjay Mahtani, co-founder and Executive Director, JSM Corporation, the master franchisee for Hard Rock Cafe in India and Nigeria.

The restaurant chain aims to invest Rs 30-70 crore for the development of these outlets over the next two years.

 “We are keen to expand in India, especially considering the positive response the brand has garnered here,” said Mahtani.

The casual dining chain is looking to explore a variety of models to expand its presence. While JSM Corp will set up some outlets by itself, it will also explore the joint-venture model.

 “Our Kolkata property does quite well in terms of revenue,” Mahtani said.

For expansion, Hard Rock Cafe will now look at cities that fall within the “tourist circuit,” and this could include a place like Goa. “The tourist profile in India is changing, and we will accordingly take a call on the cities where we can have new restaurants.”

One thing will, however, remain constant he said, “There will be only one Hard Rock Cafe in a city. Multiple outlets in a city dilute the brand proposition, Mahtani added. Mumbai, so far, has been the only exception to this rule.”

At present, there are two in Mumbai, and one each in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata taking the total count to eight. This apart, JSM runs one cafe at Nigeria.

 

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Ethnic beverage brand Goli Soda To Open 10 stores In Hyderabad
Ethnic beverage brand Goli Soda To Open 10 stores In Hyderabad
 

Ethnic beverages brand Goli Soda, part of Mitaahaar Food Ideas has announced its plan to open 10 outlets in Hyderabad and sextuple its manufacturing to 12,000 bottles per day from 2,000 currently.

The beverage maker also plans to venture into Bengaluru and Chennai markets in the next few months and will be scouting for fresh investments.

Speaking to the media, Ravi Teja Jallepalli, founder, Goli Soda, said, “We are looking to enter Bengaluru and Chennai markets in the next nine to twelve months and would be looking at raising Rs 2.5-3 crore to be deployed in research and development.

The company makes coconut water and sugarcane juice and various other types of natural beverages and competes with the likes of Hector Beverages’ Paper Boat.

Other than their own stores, they have also partnered with food delivery app Swiggy and several restaurants.

 

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Kamats Restaurants Opens New Outlet At Nashik, Sinnar
Kamats Restaurants Opens New Outlet At Nashik, Sinnar
 

The quick-service restaurants Kamats Restaurants that operates at various highway locations and cities has launched its new outlet at Nashik Sinnar, in the Pune Nashik Highway.

The restaurant offers pure vegetarian, delicious food ideal for travelers in pure and hygienic surroundings from wide of variety of quality food, fresh ingredients and distinctive flavours.

The multi-cuisine restaurant offers diverse food preferences delicious South Indian, Punjabi, Snacks, Mughlai as well as Maharashtrain delicacies along with its extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu at affordable prices
The restaurant chain iis known for trendy offerings and new innovations in menu to keep it ahead of its competitors.
The extensive menu includes varieties of South Indian dishes (idli, dosa, vada, uthappa), traditional Maharashtrian dishes (Misal Pav, Sabudana Vada), starters, combo meals, popular North Indian dishes, Indian breads, Main Course and choice of desserts.

“Kamats has emerged as a symbol of quality, originality and trust. Hygiene, quality and customer satisfaction are core concepts exercised by our team distinguish the brand from local restaurants,” it said.

Since 2013 Kamats has started expanding its restaurant chain and concentrated on standardizing its products and services through centralized purchasing and training system.

 

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Lite Bite Foods Gets right to Open outlets at airports
Lite Bite Foods Gets right to Open outlets at airports
 

Lite Bite Foods, which has around 140 restaurant oulets including Punjab Grill, Baker Street and Street Foods, has bagged master concession right for roll out of eateries in 5-tier 2-tier airports in India.

In the next financial year, the company plans to open close to 60 new outlets in India, mostly in these new airports, through a portfolio of its owned and franchised brands.

At present, the company opens outlets from the portfolio of 12 owned brands and 7 managed brands such as KFC Burger Kings, Subway and Pizza Hut at airports. The company also operates 58 outlets at airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Jammu and Goa.

“Travel by Indians is going up and we want to look at airport travel retail as a separate business vertical. We have had experience of running eateries at airports. We have bagged master concession for Indore, Ahmedabad, Coonoor, Calicut, and Bhubaneshwar airports,” said Amit Burman,Lite Bite Foods Chairman.

We are also looking at expanding the existing presence at the Jammu and Pune Airports, he added.

Burman, who is also home grown FMCG major Dabur's group vice chairman, said the company also plans to bid for concession at airports outside India such as Thailand, Singapore and Dubai, whenever an opportunity comes.

The company is also looking at expanding its business of institutional catering. It at present operates 21 outlets for running this business. It serves 10 institutional clients.

 

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Starquik to extend online grocery shopping services to four new cities
Starquik to extend online grocery shopping services to four new cities
 

After acquiring Gurugram-based GrocerMax in June last year,Tata Group has jumped into the online grocery shopping bandwagon with the soft launch of its e-tailing platform StarQuik.com. The founder of GrocerMax K.Radhakrishnan is currently the Co-founder at Tata Starquik.com.

The brand, which was launched in December last year, has tasted an unqualified success and is pretty happy with the business model and is hopeful of extending the services to all Star Bazaar stores soon.

K.Radhakrishnan, Co-founder, Tata StarQuik.com during India Food Forum 2018 said, “We are now opening in Thane and plan to soon cover whole of Mumbai. Then we go to Bengaluru and Pune. In next one year, we will be in all the cities where Star Bazaar is like Gujarat, Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.”

Starquik is the Omnichannel arm of Star Bazaar Retail where Star Bazaar is a B2B partner. The idea behind launching the brand was to extend the service coverage area of store using the online services.

Radhakrishnan said, “So Starquik is an online site and we sell 10,000 items that are sold in the Star Bazaar store within 3-hours to the customers door-step that covers all perishable, fruit and vegetables, milk, meat, fish, dairy, all FMCG and general merchandise. I doubt any other player anywhere else in the country is doing the kind of model that we are doing.”

According to Radhakrishnan, in grocery, being big does not ensure success. It takes several decades to be able to understand the supply chain and the consumer aspirations and expectations and there are very few players internationally who have done grocery online retail successfully.

“I think we have a model which is a winner and we are capable enough to compete competitors like Amazon. There is enough space for everybody. It is a US $300 billion market. So it will take a long time to get saturated. We have no worry at all,” asserted Radhakrishnan.

He further added, “We are a part of TATA company, so trust that comes from the name of 150 years of existence is huge and the other thing is that no one does 10,000 items in 3-hours to customers door-step.”

The brand, which was launched in December last year, has tasted an unqualified success and is pretty happy with the business model and is hopeful of extending the services to all Star Bazaar stores soon.

Elaborating on the business model, Radhakrishna said, “We have a asset-like variable-cost model and we operate on top of the Star Bazaar stores. We are paper-less, error-less platform and we have built very good front-end and we have our own open source, ERP system at the back. We work with 14 apps which inter-link into each other. We track everything. Technology is actually not really visible but present at the back-end. ”

“Enhancing the customer experience is built into the model but it will keep on evolving. So I think just doing the basics right is a great service for the consumers today as far as grocery is concerned. The consumer is struggling to buy grocery in an easy manner at the same time they also want to save money. Either it is too difficult and you save money and actually go through the hardships or the product is too expensive. We believe we will give convenience as well as saving and great quality merchandise to the customer,” concluded Radhakrishnan.

 

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Ananda To Open 150 outlets in Kanpur, Invest Rs 10 cr for expansion
Ananda To Open 150 outlets in Kanpur, Invest Rs 10 cr for expansion
 

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.

 

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KFC To Put 'stealth kitchens' On Menu To Widen Reach
KFC To Put 'stealth kitchens' On Menu To Widen Reach
 

In a bid to leverage the rapidly growing online food delivery model used by aggregators such as Swiggy and Zomato, KFC plans to set up stealth kitchens in India, probably a first for the domestic quick service industry in the country.

"These standalone full-service KFC kitchens won’t have any customer interface, will not double up as dine-in or take-away stores, and will have minimal branding," shares Samir Menon, MD, KFC India. 

Adding on the same Menon says, “We can’t always expect the customer to come to us - we also have to find ways to go to the customer as far as possible. We believe the concept will help create accessibility for customers who don’t necessarily have a KFC around them."

The release also shares that Yum Brands which owns KFC is looking at driving delivery in different ways across the business. “Delivery for the category has been growing and fuelled by food aggregators — they fired delivery in a big way and unlocked the ability for consumers to get food whenever they want, wherever they are," adds Menon.

Similar to most quick service brands, KFC’s entry-level products are priced at Rs 30 and above. Of the 345 existing stores KFC India operates, 250 are franchised, while the remaining 95 are equity (Yum!-owned) stores.

Meanwhile, the brand will continue to operate through a mix of franchised and equity stores though the ratio will be skewed towards franchisee stores.

 

 

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Speciality Restaurants Plans 8-12 New Outlets With Rs 40 Cr Investment
Speciality Restaurants Plans 8-12 New Outlets With Rs 40 Cr Investment
 

In a process to consolidate business, Speciality Restaurants Ltd, a leading chain of fine and casual dining in India is planning to invest Rs.40 crore in the next two years to open new restaurants.

With brands like Mainland China, Sigree, Machaan, Haka, Cafe Mezzuna, and many others, Speciality Restaurants Ltd. has always remained the priority of the its loyal customers.

The debt-free company, which had currently 125 restaurants and confectioneries, plans to make this investment from its internal accruals

Anjan Chatterjee, Founder and Managing Director, Speciality Restaurants said, “We will be investing around Rs 40 crore over the next two years to open new restaurants as well as consolidating of existing restaurants. We intend to open 8-12 new restaurants in the next 18 months,”

The debt-free company, which had currently 125 restaurants and confectioneries, plans to make this investment from its internal accruals, he said at the celebrations of 25 years of its journey.

He said, “Apart from presence across India, we have one restaurant in Colombo, two in Dhaka, two in Tanzania, one in Doha, and we are opening one in Dubai next month.”

The company clocked revenue of Rs.229.44 crore in the April-December period of the current fiscal and its turnover was at Rs.317.66 crore in 2016-17.

Chatterjee also said that the restaurant industry has been singled out by removal of the input tax credit in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime and such move has restricted the restaurant industry’s growth prospects.

 

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PepsiCo's Slice To Add More Fruit Flavoured Drinks
PepsiCo's Slice To Add More Fruit Flavoured Drinks
 

PepsiCo is adding carbonated local flavoured fruit drinks to its soft drink category under its mango drink brand Slice to take on low-priced regional brands.

A spokesperson for PepsiCo said, “We have plans to introduce a range of carbonated fruit drinks in local flavours under the Slice brand in the next few weeks.” The Slice carbonated drinks will be priced about 30% cheaper than PepsiCo’s existing range of juices and aerated drinks. They will be sold in 250 ml PET packs.

The original variant of Slice, which competes with rival Coca-Cola’s Maaza and Parle Agro’s Frooti in the mango drink segment, will also be available alongside its newly prepared it variants.

The company spokesperson said, “We have also started adding fruit juice in carbonated beverages in line with a request from Prime Minister Modi to the beverage industry.” Modi had urged cola companies to blend aerated drinks with 5% juice from fruits produced by farmers three years ago.

Industry insiders said the latest PepsiCo move is a response to the increasing threat that cola majors Coca-Cola and PepsiCo face from low-priced regional brands. More than 200 B-brands, or regional brands, account for well over 15% share of the estimated Rs.22,000-crore soft drink category.

Most of these brands bet on distribution in smaller markets with direct reach to retailers, prices at almost half that charged by the multinationals, and limited spend on marketing and advertising. Popular regional brands include Bovonto in Tamil Nadu, Alwar-based Jayanti Cola, and Hajoori & Sons, which sells Sosyo, Ginlim and Lemee in select pockets of the north.

 

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The Beer Cafe Reaches Noida, launches 18 Retail Outlets across Delhi
The Beer Cafe Reaches Noida, launches 18 Retail Outlets across Delhi
 

Books, it is said, are a uniquely portable magic. It is this magic of words and literature that The Beer Café, India’s largest alco-beverage chain, is invoking for its bibliophilic patrons with a book-themed outlet at Logix City Centre Mall.

The total number of its outlets has gone up to 37 across India, with 18 outlets being launched in Delhi NCR alone. The launch of the outlet, the brands first in Noida, has exposed the company’s strategy of operational expansion and has highlighted its strong growth trajectory.

Situated at one of the most prominent hubs in Noida, the outlet combines an artful ambience, heavily derived from literary influence infused with the brands open and inviting social setting. Its mesmerising décor is replete with puntastic brew-based wordplays on popular book titles that will delight and enthral bibliophiles.

Rahul Singh, Founder & CEO, The Beer Café, speaking on the launch of its Noida outlet said, “Some of the most famous authors have often expressed the charm of alcohol when it comes to art. Our latest outlet in Noida is aimed at capturing this synergy. With an ambience perfectly suited for sparking conversations and ideas we are confident that beer lovers will enjoy this dedicated space. Who knows, we might just catch the next batch of Hemingways and Bukowskis sitting there, cradling their pints and typing their way towards literary glory!”

 

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