Food Darzee commences its operations in Pune

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced collaboration with The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts (Oberoi) to co-manage three establishments in India and the UK, according to a statement by RIL.

RIL's press release stated that the partnership will encompass the soon-to-open Anant Vilas Hotel located in Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), the renowned Stoke Park in the UK, and an additional forthcoming project in Gujarat.

Anant Vilas stands as the inaugural city-centered resort under Oberoi's prestigious 'Vilas' collection of luxury properties. Positioned within Mumbai's bustling business nucleus of Bandra Kurla Complex, Anant Vilas introduces this unique concept.

Stoke Park Limited, an affiliate of RIL, possesses recreational and sports amenities situated in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. Within these amenities are encompassed a hotel, sports-related infrastructure, and a highly acclaimed golf course, ranked among Europe's finest.

Oberoi and RIL will join forces to enhance these facilities, turning them into a renowned, top-tier resort that promises an unforgettable guest experience.

The project underway in Gujarat, which is currently without a name, is being executed as an additional distinctive hotel initiative aimed at enhancing the tourism prospects of the state of Gujarat.

RIL stated in the announcement that Oberoi boasts an unmatched history of delivering exceptional customer service on a global scale within the hospitality sector.

Oberoi possesses a collection of palaces and historical sites in their portfolio, which have been elevated while retaining the essence and original vision of these significant properties.

PepsiCo to buy the energy drink maker Rockstar Energy Beverages for $3.85 billion.

PepsiCo and Coca-Cola in their pursuit of consumers that have a much wider variety of drinks to choose has moved aggresively to expand their business. Both must compete with smaller seltzer, soda, sparkling juice and energy drink makers that each market to a subset of consumers.

Coca-Cola, branched out from its Classic Coke to keep customers who have given up, or cut back drastically on sugary drinks. The company said in its most recent quarter that Coca-Cola Zero Sugar had double digit sales gains last year. With the acquisition of Costa Coffee in 2018, the sale of tea and Coffee grew 4% in the final three months of 2019.

The acquisition announced on Wednesday is a huge milestone for PepsiCo as it expands its portfolio of energy drinks. Mountain Dew's Kickstart, GameFuel and AMP are some other drinks in the same category.

Rockstar was founded in 2001 by entrepreneur Russel Weiner. Today it makes 30 variations of drinks that is sold in more than 30 countries. Based out of Las Vegas, PepsiCo and Rockstar have had a distribution agreement in North America since 2009.

The company aims to close the deal in the first half of the year.

Samosa Singh, a lip-smacking fast food outlet, founded in 2016, announces a pilot association with Reliance's grocery store chain with an aim to offer a tailor-made menu to Reliance grocery store customers.

Speaking about the association, Shikhar Veer Singh, the founder and CEO of Samosa Singh said, “Our aim has always been to appeal to the masses and for them to enjoy Samosa with the convenience of being available anytime, anywhere. This association helps us further our goal of reintroducing the new generation to Samosa, a snack Indians have relished across generations,”

Starting with a first few Reliance Smart stores in Bengaluru, the startup aims to soon expand its partnership to other stores gradually. “Citizen Customers expect modern, interesting, food ideas from a platform like SMART Superstore. Food in India is full of exciting possibilities. Providing a platform to an innovative startup like Samosa Singh comes naturally to Reliance Smart. I am said it will add one more reason that makes shopping at SMART, more interesting.” said Damodar Mall, CEO, Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail.

In the starting of this year, Samosa Singh raised a funding of Rs 17 crore in a Series A funding round that was led by She Capital which was aimed to scale up its operations, increase its production capabilities and expand in multi-cities, while  allowing it to enter the households through their quick delivery via cloud kitchen model.

Not just this, the outlet now claims to have sold more than 20 million units and aims to expand itself throughout the southern part of India in the upcoming year. This progress already halfway through as it opened its outlet at Bangalore international airport and has partnered with brands such as INOX, PVR Cinemas and Cafe Coffee Day, said Samosa Singh.


 

For everyone who starts their day with a coffee, Panera, the Bread company is here to make your day more special by announcing an unlimited coffee subscription. With this, Panera becomes the first national restaurant company to offer unlimited high-quality hot drip coffee, iced coffee and hot tea for just $8.99 per month, making it accessible to all.

"Today, we're changing the game for coffee drinkers across the country with our no compromises, unlimited subscription service—great coffee at an amazing value.  We are eliminating the price barrier and the false choices between convenience and quality – between good coffee and craveable food.  At Panera, there's no more compromise—and your cup is always full." Says Niren Chaudhary, the CEO of Panera.  With MyPanera+ unlimited coffee – Your Cup Is Always Full™, customers will surely start their day with delight. The new coffee subscription is available to members of MyPanera, Panera's free loyalty program. MyPanera members can register today for the subscription by Panera website and mobile app and unlimited coffee is just a click away. 

Panera’s way to a Healthy Coffee

According to a recent survey, an average American spends $1,100  on coffee per year and this new tempting initiative by Panera will not just offer unlimited coffee but will help save their spendings.

Panera is known for its commitment to plant-based options. For this, it has  removed the upcharge for plant-based milk in all U.S. Panera bakery-cafes.  Almond milk is now available on the coffee outlets for free and the company is actively exploring and adding other non-dairy alternatives.

Unlimited Coffee with Delicious Breakfast

Panera’s this new initiative will help you choose the best breakfast. Its all new breakfast idea includes delicious, portable breakfast wraps, made-to-order egg sandwiches and fresh-baked bakery offerings are seamlessly integrated with Panera's Rapid Pick-Up®, Delivery and Drive-Thru services,offering both delicious breakfast foods and uncompromised convenience for the morning delivery. This healthy breakfast initiative by Panera includes no artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavors or colors from artificial sources. 

Now available nationwide in Panera bakery-cafes, Panera's e-commerce site the Panera app, this brand new initiative will definately challenge the industry and gain more attraction. 

About Panera

Panera Bread Company is an American chain store of bakery-café with over 2,000 locations,based in the United States and Canada. Over the years of its existence it has been challenging the industry with its commitment to sell fresh baked bread everyday, thereby spreading the idea of fresh food.

Cross Border Kitchens (CBK), a multi-brand, multi-kitchen, multi-format internet-driven F&B company, is planning to have a multi-city presence. It projected to be present in 7 major cities in India with different formats.

The brand expects to have 570 live PoS and plan to deploy CAPEX of Rs 18 crore. It hopes to create 2000 to 2500 employment opportunities. 

Launched in early 2019, CBK is 3 kitchens strong in Delhi-NCR and operates 6 incredible food delivery brands across multiple cuisines.

CBK’s Offerings

CBK is committed to providing consistent high-quality food across multiple cuisine types, at every possible price point, and via every possible format. The team is guided by achieving excellence in all large and small processes that go into achieving the core objective.

Operational excellence, marketing expertise, and technology backbone support, each of these key processes helping the company bring to market 7 operational brands (with an additional 4 launching in the next 30 days) in 4 different cuisine type at a wide range of price points.

CBK’s brands are deeply integrated with all the aggregators including Zomato and Swiggy and provide customers with a wide variety of choices across price & cuisine spectrums.

Currently, CBK service in anywhere between 10-12 thousand orders every month and is on the path to register Rs 4 crore in revenue by end of the financial year with 3 live kitchens operational in Delhi NCR.  

Recent Fundraise

Cross Border Kitchens has raised an angel round led by Shreedhar Gupta. Shreedhar has invested in CBK in his personal capacity and also joins in as a board member.     

Shreedhar Gupta comes with over 20 years of experience in setting up, running and expanding various businesses in the start-up and automotive sector.

Ishita Yashvi, Mayank Singh, Ahsan Qureshi and Mohit Mehta, Co-Founders, Cross Border Kitchens, said, “We are an Inventive Culinary Community that utilizes technology, culinary art, marketing, and operational excellence to deliver a memorable gourmet experience. Shreedhar comes with a string of successful investments in start-ups. His business acumen will help us scale at an accelerated rate and in achieving our mission to deliver a wholesome food experience at every doorstep at the click of a button.”  

Shreedhar Gupta added, “I am very excited to be part of a team with such energy, excitement, and integrity. I play very safely with my investments and I’m confident that investing in CBK is one of the safest yet best investments I’ve made so far. Not only am I positive of multifold returns but also grateful that this investment in CBK will help me get involved with good food, something I’m very passionate about.”

The robust growth of the online food delivery industry in the recent years is not unknown to us. It has not only been expanding our food choice at our convenience, but the very fact that it offers a wide array of restaurants with a single tap of their mobile phone is something that makes it noteworthy.

After huge investments in a two-hour delivery supply chain for Amazon Now portfolio, Amazon is now piloting its much-anticipated project of food delivery in select localities in Bengaluru. With Swiggy and Zomato being the primary keys players in the industry, the entrance of a new player, Amazon is surely going to be a game-changer in the industry in terms of rise in competition or change in logistics.

Amazon has constantly been covering new areas of business to its platform ever since its existence. And this new move to enter the food delivery industry is surely a part of building a comprehensive product portfolio. In times when Swiggy and Zomato have cut discounts and tightened cost structure, it would be noteworthy to witness the steps they would take to keep their foot in place.

The Challenge that comes with Amazon

Amazon’s entry into the food delivery market would create new challenges for Prosus Ventures-backed Swiggy and Zomato. Both the startups, having raised more than $2 billion together, are still not profitable, losing more than $15 million each month to acquire new customers and sustain existing ones. Figuring a path to profitability might take some time in a country like India. Amazon’s established image in the market guarantees no surety of its success as Swiggy operates in more than 520 cities in India and maintains a partnership with over 160,000 partners.

With proper logistics and strategic approach, dynamics might change for both existing and the new player Until then, it would be interesting to watch how Amazon will use its base to attract customers and what strategy would Swiggy and Zomato undertake to retain their existing customers.

Barbeque Nation has strengthened its presence in Mumbai with the launch of its latest outlet at Growels Mall in Kandivali East.

The 158-seater outlet is spread over an area of 5,072 sq ft.

Suman Mukherjee, Regional Manager, Barbeque Nation Hospitality Ltd, said, “What really captures the essence of Mumbai is its food. We have successfully delivered on variety, quality, taste and comfort, making Barbeque Nation a favourite among food lovers in this magnificent city.”

“It delights us to add more outlets, particularly in Mumbai, as the people here have dearly acknowledged our hospitality, encouraging us to expand and serve them better. We hope to entice foodies in and around Kandivali with our new restaurant,” he further added.

Menu Offering

The casual dining restaurant chain’s menu is drawn from the Mediterranean, American, Oriental, Asian and Indian cuisines. Besides offering a delectable menu, Barbeque Nation has sizzling skewers on tables that double as a live kitchen.

Barbeque Nation serves eat-all-you-can buffet, showcasing an array of vegetarian and non-vegetarian spreads.

For starters, the restaurant offers non-vegetarian delicacies like Mutton Kadhak Seekh, Chilli Garlic Prawns, Ajwaini Fish Tikka, Murg Boti Kebab, etc. For vegetarians, the restaurant provides mouth-watering Hariyali Kumbh, Pineapple Chaat, Cajun Spice Baby Potato and Punjabi Paneer Tikka, among others.

The restaurant’s main course includes non-vegetarian dishes like Chicken Dum Biryani, Kashmiri Mutton Rogon Josh and Murgh Makhani, and vegetarian ones including Paneer Tikka Masala, Kashmiri Pulao, Dal-E-Dum, and Mushroom Ka Josh.

Its dessert section consists of Walnut Brownie, Assorted Pastry, Angoori Gulab Jamun, Marvel Cake, and Kesari Phirnee. The restaurant’s popular Kulfi Nation counter also offers a wide range of Kulfis.

Casual Dining Restaurants Industry

In India, the Casual Dining Restaurants Industry is the second most popular category within the food and beverage (F&B) space. 

At present, the Indian restaurant industry is worth Rs 75,000 crore. Growing at an annual rate of 7%, this segment is majorly driven by a young population aged between 15-44 years. Other factors that drive the growth of the casual dining market include disposable incomes, growth of consumers in smaller towns and broadening the exposure of new cuisines, rapid urbanisation and the higher frequency of eating out has evolved the market for the food services industry in India.

Casual Dining Restaurant demand is driven by the shifting lifestyle trends with a wide variety of menu offerings and flavours. Eating out has now transformed from occasion driven to becoming a regular activity even on weekdays besides weekends only and they are gradually moving from fine-dine to enjoy more of casual dining culture.

Cookie brand Sweetish House Mafia has secured Rs 12 crore in its pre-Series A funding round from investor Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer at vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India. The funding round has been facilitated by an investment banking firm under Ashika Group, Ashika Capital Limited.

Founded by Neha Sethi and Aakash Sethi in April 2013, the company currently has 12 stores in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Kolkata.

Sweetish House Mafia’s bestsellers include its signature Nutella Sea Salt, Double Chocolate Chip, and classic Chocolate Chip cookies.

Mihir Mehta, Senior Vice President, Ashika Capital Limited, said, “Sweetish House Mafia has the status of an iconic neighborhood brand that has immense growth potential, and investment from Adar comes as a great validation.” 

Future Plans

The fresh capital will be used by the company to strengthen its reach in the cities they are present in. It will further be utilized to foray into new cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Chennai, in India by the end of 2020.

The Mumbai-based company also aims to expand the current product line. It is planning to deploy newer business verticals, including planning to unveil its e-commerce platform soon.

Apart from retailing its mouth-watering cookies via foodtech aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato, Sweetish House Mafia further eyes to unveil more stores.

Aakash Sethi, Founding Partner of Sweetish House Mafia, said, “With the help of the funds raised, we want to further our brand outreach via new experiential stores in more than seven cities across India, including Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Chennai.”

“We will continue to deepen our reach in existing cities where we have a strong presence and also increase our product range and categories across these geographies. We will deploy some funds to strategically build our team, as we plan to launch our own e-commerce platform shortly,” he added.

Starbucks is all set to woo Indian consumers with the introduction of the global fan favourite, Blonde Espresso Roast, in India. With this, the brand is reinforcing its commitment to the Indian coffee market and its positioning as the coffee authority.

Blonde Espresso Roast is lighter and smooth-bodied, delivering a flavourful cup with slight hints of roast.

The new product can be experienced with the all-new Blonde Freddo, which is priced Rs 335 onwards. Blonde Freddo is available in three variants, including vanilla, caramel and hazelnut.  

Consumers can try Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast in the Flat White, Latte, Americano and even Frappuccinos.

The Blonde Espresso Roast is now available at Starbucks’ outlets across India.

The main target of Starbucks is to constantly offer an elevated and unparalleled experience to the customers in their journey of coffee exploration.

Curry Up Now, the Indian fast-casual restaurant franchise, has ventured into the New Jersey market. The brand has opened its first location in Hoboken, New Jersey, with plans to launch another four locations.

This is Curry Up Now’s first spot east of Atlanta. It is situated at 91 Washington St. The brand will be introducing a restaurant in Newark this spring at 58 Halsey Street.

The restaurant franchise is eyeing locations in Central and North Jersey for its other three restaurants.

Rana Kapoor, Co-Owner of Curry Up Now, said, “The Hoboken restaurant opening is especially exciting for us, as it marks Curry Up Now’s debut on the East Coast. Pritesh [Benjamin, the New Jersey franchisee] has been a great partner for us so far, and we are excited to continue growing with him as we open Hoboken, Newark, and at least three more restaurants across New Jersey.”

Offerings by Curry Up Now

Curry Up Now provides unique dishes, and even kids' meals, in a casual setting. These meals include the traditional Indian ingredients and sauces like chicken, lamb, paneer cheese, and vegetables. However, the menu offers a variety of bowls, naan bread dishes, including naan pizza, and scrumptious "Sexy Fries", which are sweet potato waffle fries with a kick.

Curry Up Now’s signature dishes include tikka masala burritos, deconstructed samosas, Indian-style tacos, naughty naan, and more traditional dishes such as Thali Platters, Kathi Rolls, and Bhel Puri.

Its menu gives traditional Indian food an interesting twist. Dishes are converted into street-food concepts like tikka masala burritos, deconstructed samosas, and Indian-style tacos.

Whizdom Club, an inspiration hub by MQDC India, launched its first food venture, Whiz Café, at the heart of GK-2. The café is a part of the Whizdom Club co-working space and offers an exciting gourmet menu, curated by internationally renowned Culinary Chef Ashay Dhopatkar and acclaimed Pastry Chef Neha Lakhani.

Strategically located within Whizdom Club’s campus, Whiz Café is a unique place where members of the co-working community and the café guests can interact and share ideas. The café will form a melting pot for a diverse community, co-working members, young professionals, students, freelancers, startupreneurs, and local residents.

In line with parent company MQDC’s core philosophy of “For All Well-Being”, Whiz Café by Whizdom Club aspires to create a stimulating and cohesive environment for its patrons. The café, by way of its food and ambience, aims to encourage a community culture through its delectable cuisine and inspiring design.

Chulamas Jitpatima (Amy), Director, MQDC India, said, “As an ‘Inspiration Hub’, we strive to provide an ecosystem complete with mentorship, community access, and ideation. Adding to the vibe of Whizdom Club, Whiz Café offers a welcoming and vibrant environment and an eclectic range of dishes, for those who like to savour and toil with the same fervour.”

Offering a platform to connect & collaborate

Whiz Café caters to the multi-faceted lifestyles of urbanites, a perfect place for work meetings as well as casual brunches. The café aims to be a space that inspires and offers a platform to connect and collaborate. The vibrant design lets in abundant sunlight through floor-to-ceiling windows while especially installed air-filters protect patrons from the city’s rising pollution.

The menu, along with the design of the café, has been planned to resonate with the youth. The café’s extensive menu includes both comfort food and wholesome options like salads, mains, delicious desserts, fresh pastries, and a variety of refreshing beverages.

“The especially ‘curated’ gourmet menu is designed and served with perfection, making it a mark of exclusivity and craftsmanship by our popular and internationally renowned Culinary Chef Ashay Dhopatkar and acclaimed Pastry Chef Neha Lakhani,” Jitpatima added.

Especially curated gourmet menu

The café is spearheaded by the ‘Troublesome Duo’, famous Culinary Chef Ashay Dhopatkar and Pastry Chef Neha Lakhani.

The especially curated menu includes signature dishes by both the chefs. Chef Ashay is showcasing his famous confit chicken leg served with creamy corn chowder and winter vegetables like kale, turnips, and baby carrots, making it a mouth-watering main course. While Pastry Chef Neha presents her all-time comfort dessert, which is a melt-in-the-mouth chocolate chip cookie, with a soft filled centre, served right out of the oven.

Chef Ashay said, “It gives us immense pleasure to be a part of MQDC’s India journey. For Whiz Café, the menu is designed for urbanites who love to embrace new experiences and culinary trends.”

“With the inclusion of healthy comfort food in the menu, we aim to target health-conscious young professionals and millennials, offering inspiring meals to match the buzz of the city’s new inspiration hub,” he further stated.

Mother Dairy has forayed into the Indore market. With this, the dairy brand is strengthening its footprint in Tier-II cities.

The company will be selling four milk variants through 1,500 outlets spread across Indore.

Vinod Chopra, Business Head (Milk), Mother Dairy, said, “Our entry into the market of Indore is in line with our vision of having a national footprint, complementing our presence in over 100 cities of India.”

“The newly launched milk range in Indore market is sourced from the regions of in & around Madhya Pradesh and is being processed and hygienically packed in an associated plant in Dewas,” he added.

Mother Dairy’s Story

Incorporated in 1974, Mother Dairy is a pioneer in the dairy industry. It began as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The brand was created under the Operation Flood Initiative, the world’s largest program for dairy development, targeted at making India a milk sufficient nation.

At present, there are around 1400 retail outlets and around 1000 exclusive outlets of Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Private Limited.

The company sells milk and milk products under the ‘Mother Dairy’ brand. Its edible oils are marketed under the ‘Dhara’ brand, while fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen vegetables, unpolished pulses, honey, organic range of products are sold under the ‘Safal’ brand.

Indian dairy market

In India, the growth story of the dairy market is driven largely by small-scale dairy farmers. The dairy market in the country is amongst the largest and fastest growing markets in the world.

The things that offer further impetus to India’s dairy industry include growing private sector investment in dairy farming, supply chain, processing facilities, and backward integration.

In India, the demand for dairy products is likely to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by more consumers, higher incomes and greater interest in nutrition. The demand for quality dairy products is increasing and production is also rising in many developing countries. Consumption of processed and packaged dairy products is growing in urban areas.

Due to the increasing competition from the private sector, several national and international brands have forayed into the dairy market and expanded consumers’ expectation of quality.

PepsiCo, the US multinational food and beverage maker, will acquire Be & Cheery, the Chinese snack brand, from local jujube maker Haoxiangni Health Food Co Ltd for $705 million.

This acquisition is in line with PepsiCo’s goal to become China's leading consumer-focused food and beverage company.

Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo Greater China, said, “Be & Cheery adds direct-to-consumer capability, positioning us to capitalise on continued growth in e-commerce, and a local brand that is able to stretch across a broad portfolio of products, through both online and offline channels.”

“We also expect to leverage Be & Cheery's innovation and consumer insights capabilities to drive innovation in other key PepsiCo growth markets,” he added.

Incorporated in 2003, Be & Cheery is one of the largest online snack companies in China. It sells snacks from nuts to dried fruits mainly on Chinese e-commerce platforms. The company posted revenues of about 5 billion yuan ($711.7 million) in 2019.

Starbucks has launched its delivery program to 33 new US markets, in collaboration with UberEats. These new markets include Austin, Baltimore, Charleston, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, San Antonio, Tampa-St. Pete, and more.

With this expansion, Starbucks now delivers to 49 markets across 29 US states, with plans to expand to nearly every state in the coming months. The brand has rapidly strengthened its delivery program to new US markets since an initial test in Miami less than 18 months ago.

Starbucks said in a press release, “Following continuous success of Starbucks Delivers and further customer demand, the company plans to expand delivery to nearly all U.S. states, achieving national coverage in the coming months.”

Presence of Starbucks delivery program

Apart from the US, Starbucks has unveiled delivery programs in over 15 global markets. These include Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, the UK, and Vietnam.

The company has made several investments to its international delivery initiatives such as voice ordering and delivery capabilities through Alibaba’s delivery platform Ele.me in China and expanding Starbucks Delivers, in partnership with Uber Eats, most recently in the U.K., U.S., and Canada.

Launch of Starbucks Delivers

In late 2018, Starbucks introduced Starbucks Delivers as a pilot in conjunction with Uber Eats. The delivery service is available through the Uber Eats mobile app on iOS and Android devices. It offers about 95% of the core items on the Starbucks menu.

The orders can be followed within the mobile app, tracking progress and location of the Uber courier. The firm has also created packaging to help ensure the quality of hot and cold menu items. 

Customers can also customize orders as they would for orders on Starbucks mobile apps. Delivery orders have varying standard fees depending on factors like customer location and the availability of nearby couriers.

Reliance Industries is set to foray into the restaurant business by collaborating with a Michelin-starred Armani eatery for this purpose.

The Mukesh Ambani-owned company will be spearheading its food business in collaboration with Emporio Armani, the Milan-based luxury company. Reliance is aiming to launch the first Emporio Armani restaurant in its upcoming luxury mall in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex.

After Paris, Milan, New York, Tokyo, Munich and Dubai, Mumbai will be the latest city where the Michelin-star Armani launches its restaurant.

The firm is developing a mega-commercial complex in BKC called Jio World Centre. This complex will house an international convention centre, hotels, two shopping centres including a luxury mall, a performing arts theatre, a rooftop drive-in movie theatre and commercial offices. The luxury mall will be opened next year.

A Reliance spokesperson said, “We are never the spokesperson as Reliance/India operator and always want our brand partners to be the face of the brand in India.”

The company is already a master franchisee of Armani. It operates Emporio Armani, Giorgio Armani and Armani Exchange branded outlets in India.

At present, Armani is operating 20 restaurants around the world. The brand unveiled its first restaurant in Paris in 1998.

The new restaurant will be the latest addition to the partnership between Reliance and the Italian luxury giant.

Indian snacking startup Samosa Singh is aiming to expand in 100-plus cloud kitchens by end of 2020. Currently, it operates in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with plans to establish and consolidate its presence in South India.

Since its founding, Samosa Singh has partnered with leading national brands such as INOX, PVR Cinemas, and Café Coffee Day, among others. In 2019, the startup entered into strategic partnerships with multinational retailers for the launch of its ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook samosa ranges. Recently, it opened the flagship outlet at Bangalore International Airport. 

The brand has recently raised a total of $2.7 million in a Series A funding round led by SHE Capital, along with continued participation from follow-on investors Fireside Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from early-stage fund Equanimity Investments, Japan-based AET Fund, and the AL Trust.

This amount will enable the Bengaluru-based brand to scale up its operations, increase its production capabilities, and expand in multi-cities, while also allowing it to enter the households through their quick delivery via the cloud kitchen model. Samosa Singh was founded in 2016, with the objective of reinventing the king of Indian snacks, the samosa, and presenting it to customers in new and exciting ways. By elevating the familiar joyful experience, Samosa Singh has helped the preferred local snack come a long way from its humble street food origins.

Targeting India’s massive food market, estimated to cross $540 billion by 2020, the brand has emerged as a leading player in the ‘indulgent snacks’ category. Over 100,000 man-hours of R&D have resulted in samosas that are 56 percent lower in fat than their traditional counterparts. Among the brand’s unique offerings are the kadai paneer samosa, the achaari murg samosa, and their trademark chocolate samosa, the Chocossa.

Shikhar Veer Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, Samosa Singh, said, “Passion for our product drives everything we do, and we’re thrilled to have found a set of partners whose ideals align with ours. Their backing and experience will allow us to expand our presence pan-India and increase our production capacity manifold, enabling samosa lovers across the country to experience the change.”

Nidhi Singh, Co-Founder & COO, Samosa Singh, stated, “Samosa Singh was born from a simple realisation in India, leisure time and snack foods are both inextricably linked to the country’s cultural fabric. And what food better exemplifies our country than the versatile samosa. Through Samosa Singh we’ve found a way to strengthen this bond, and by positioning ourselves as leaders in the underpenetrated and fragmented gourmet snack market are poised for immense growth.”

Anisha Singh, Founding Partner of She capital, added, “She Capital was created with a vision to empower & enable high-growth women-led businesses in the country. As our first investment, Samosa Singh led by Nidhi is a great embodiment of this vision. What excited us about them is the unique insights & innovation that Nidhi & Shikhar bring to one of the most consumed snacks in the country. Building on technology, scientific research & key consumer insights without diluting the experience or quality for end-users is what makes this brand a great bet. We’re excited to partner with them as we make Samosa Singh a household name.”

Barbeque Nation has expanded its presence in Mumbai with the launch of its latest outlet at Phoenix Market City, Kurla (West). This launch coincides with the 14th anniversary celebrations of India’s leading casual dining restaurant chain.

Spread over an area of 2,600 sq ft, the newly opened restaurant has a seating capacity of 110.

Suman Mukherjee, Regional Manager of Barbeque Nation Hospitality Ltd, said, “With the launch of our latest outlet in Kurla, we are also celebrating our 14th anniversary.”

“Barbeque Nation’s journey started in this very city, and we feel privileged to have served the people of this country, for the last 14 years. We would like to welcome diners around this region to our new outlet and allow us the opportunity to serve them with our lip-smacking menu offerings,” he further stated.

Barbeque Nation’s Eat-All-You-Can Buffet

Barbeque Nation’s eat-all-you-can buffet showcases an array of vegetarian and non-vegetarian spreads.

For starters, the restaurant offers non-vegetarian delicacies like Mutton Kadhak Seekh, Chilli Garlic Prawns, Ajwaini Fish Tikka, Murg Boti Kebab, etc. For vegetarians, the restaurant provides mouth-watering Hariyali Kumbh, Pineapple Chaat, Cajun Spice Baby Potato and Punjabi Paneer Tikka, among others.

The restaurant’s main course includes non-vegetarian dishes like Chicken Dum Biryani, Kashmiri Mutton Rogon Josh and Murgh Makhani, and vegetarian ones including Paneer Tikka Masala, Kashmiri Pulao, Dal-E-Dum, and Mushroom Ka Josh.

Its dessert section consists of Walnut Brownie, Assorted Pastry, Angoori Gulab Jamun, Marvel Cake, and Kesari Phirnee. The restaurant’s popular Kulfi Nation counter also offers a wide range of Kulfis.

Casual Dining Restaurants Industry

In India, the Casual Dining Restaurants Industry is the second most popular category within the food and beverage (F&B) space. 

At present, the Indian restaurant industry is worth Rs 75,000 crore. Growing at an annual rate of 7%, this segment is majorly driven by a young population aged between 15-44 years. Other factors that drive the growth of the casual dining market include disposable incomes, growth of consumers in smaller towns and broadening the exposure of new cuisines, rapid urbanisation and the higher frequency of eating out has evolved the market for the food services industry in India.

Casual Dining Restaurant demand is driven by the shifting lifestyle trends with a wide variety of menu offerings and flavours. Eating out has now transformed from occasion driven to becoming a regular activity even on weekdays besides weekends only and they are gradually moving from fine-dine to enjoy more of casual dining culture.

Little Caesars Pizza is venturing into the Indian market by launching its first two restaurants in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Paula Vissing, Senior Vice President of International, Little Caesar Enterprises, Inc, said, “As we continue to expand our global footprint, we are thrilled to bring Little Caesars Pizza's high quality, great-tasting pizza at an everyday value to India.”

US-based pizza brand will launch an all-Vegetarian menu in Ahmedabad, featuring a signature 10" HOT-N-READY Veggie Pizza for Rs 159 all day, every day, plus other delicious offerings. The HOT-N-READY concept permits customers to simply stop in and carry out a selection of freshly made, great-tasting pizza and side items without waiting or ordering ahead.

“India is an incredibly important new market for Little Caesars and we anticipate significant growth throughout the country in the next several years,” she added.

Founded in 1959, Little Caesars is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Currently, it is the third-largest pizza chain in the world in terms of the net number of stores in 2019. The brand has stores in each of the 50 states in the US and 26 countries and territories around the world.

Growing Pizza Market

The Italian food format stood third in preference after Indian and Chinese five to six years ago. However, recent studies show that pizza is the biggest and the most profitable segment in the Quick Serve Restaurant (QSR) format.

The Indian pizza market is dominated by Jubilant Food Works and Yum Brands, who own the widely recognisable brands Domino’s and Pizza Hut, respectively. However, other brands such as Sbarro, Papa John’s and Marco’s Pizza are also competing to spread their base in India. Thus, with the increase in the number of players, the market is ripe for investors.

Serving pizza via franchise route

Global and domestic pizza brands in India are expanding their stores through the franchise route throwing many opportunities for entrepreneurs in the country. Be it Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s,  Sbarro, Neopolitan Pizza or any other pizza brand, the majority of them are spreading their footprints via a franchise model in India. Domino’s Pizza has Jubilant FoodWorks Limited as it Master Franchisee.

Prospects in smaller cities

The Indian fast food market, which used to concentrate only in the metropolitan cities, has been witnessing a robust growth pan-India over the past few years. Tier-II and III cities are the focus of the leading pizza makers due to huge opportunities there.

In the pizza segment, competition is getting intense as franchisors are significantly ramping up their presence across tier-II and tier-III cities of India. There exists a tremendous growth opportunity for franchisors in these areas as an educated middle-class population is becoming more sophisticated with respect to standardised food consumption.

HealthifyMe, health and fitness app, has announced a collaboration with food delivery platform Swiggy to curate and deliver ‘FitPicks’, listing restaurants that provide healthy food. Curated by dedicated nutritionists, the new listing will offer food from more than 700 Swiggy’s partner restaurants.

With this, health-conscious users in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, and Bangalore will be benefited. The development comes after the food delivery startup observed a massive 249% surge in healthy food orders. These include salad, keto, and millet-based dishes.

HealthifyMe said, “Only restaurants with predominantly healthy dishes find a place on the ‘FitPicks’ collection.”

The fitness platform claims to have more than 12 million users.

The option will be availed by the users by clicking on the FitPicks banner on Swiggy.

Srivats TS, VP Marketing at Swiggy, stated, “We’ve had ‘healthy’ as a key filter on the app for many years now. With the Fitpick collection, we’re making it simpler for health-focused consumers to find the healthiest restaurants on the platform, especially curated by nutritionists and the health scoring algorithm at HealthifyMe.”

In order to woo their customers, both companies have launched ‘personalised diet plans’ for those ordering in January.

The startup added, “Consumers who place more than two orders from FitPicks before January 31 will also receive free access to HealthifyMe’s AI-powered personalised diet plan for a month.”

Surging Demand for Healthy Food Segment

We have seen different concepts and trends coming to India over the last two years. With burgers becoming the QSR favorites and pizza capturing the party scenes, the health food segment has also grown eventually in the Indian market.

Nowadays, people do not only want to eat food, but they are much more focused on getting healthy food at a reasonable price with taste in it. With the growing awareness of healthy foods and healthy diets on the menu, the young office goers and the students are more attracted to the healthy food being offered in the market.

Experts say that consumption of healthy food is a part of a broader ‘lifestyle’, and with growing prosperity, the demand prospects do look bright in the years to come. 

Panera Bread, privately held by JAB Holdings, is looking at adding new grain and plant-based offerings this year. The fast-casual chain’s aim is to increase its plant-based options from 25% to 50% of its menu. 

The new plant-forward menu plan comes after consumer demand has fuelled for more health-conscious options. The restaurant chain has a history of serving clean food made without artificial ingredients or additives.

In 2019, Panera Bread’s addition of grain bowls to its menu was the most successful launch in the last three to four years. Additionally, the brand sees a big opportunity in expanding its plant-based options.

Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread, said, “In the first two, three months, we’ve sold over 5 million grain bowls.”

In 2021, the sandwich chain will offer its consumers new plant-based products in every category.

“In the coming years, we want to have more grain options for our consumers, more plant-based options for our consumers, and more high-quality lean-cut meats,” Chaudhary stated.

Whole foods: A healthy choice

Despite serving meat alternatives from Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods, Panera will serve whole foods like quinoa and edamame.

As per market research firm Mintel, 61% of consumers believe that whole plant food, like beans, are healthier than processed meat substitutes, such as the Impossible Burger.

Sara Burnett, Vice President of wellness and food policy, said, “We are going after plant-based maybe a little bit differently than the industry is going after. Although faux meats are a long-term trend and they’re definitely a great solution for our guests or for some guests at different restaurants, as a transition product. At Panera, we have a plant-based, nutrient-rich and protein-rich menu. It’s about what you add to your diet.”

The chain also expanded its breakfast offerings, started testing a new dinner menu, and collaborated with DoorDash, GrubHub, and UberEats delivery services.

Apart from Panera Bread, JAB Holdings also owns US-based doughnut chain Krispy Kreme and UK-based “ready-to-eat” sandwich shop, Pret a Manger. 

Seattle-based Starbucks is boosting its program that tries to help low-income communities by launching coffee shops and hiring local workers. The coffee chain is planning to launch or remodel 85 stores by 2025 in rural and urban communities across the US.

Each of these stores will be hiring local staff, including construction crews and artists, and will have dedicated community event spaces. This expansion will bring to 100 the total number of community stores Starbucks has introduced since it announced the program in 2015.

The company will also collaborate with local United Way chapters to create programming for each store like youth job training classes or mentorship groups.

Starbucks’ Community Store

The brand unveiled its first community store in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2016. Starbucks has launched 13 other locations since then, which include stores in Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans and Jonesboro, Georgia.

The company has estimated that the stores have created over 300 jobs. All of the community stores are in the US, although Starbucks says some franchisees in other countries, such as Thailand and China, have also launched community stores.

Starbucks will introduce another store this spring in Prince George's County, Maryland.

John Kelly, Executive Vice President of public affairs and social impact, Starbucks, said, “The stores reflect Starbucks' core belief in responsible capitalism. The stores are profitable and have the same menu and prices as regular Starbucks stores.”

“This is not charity. These are successful stores. We're defying a lot of the stereotypes and we're proud to do so,” Kelly stated.

Future Plans

Most of the new Starbucks corporate stores will be new, but some will be remodeled of existing stores. In order to decide where to build them, the company will be considering various factors, including youth unemployment rates and low median household income.

Kelly added, “Starbucks wants its new stores to be more connected to their communities. All of these programs are with the intent of being purposeful and profitable. It does not do a community any good to close a store.”

The coffee chain learned that it has to tie up with local leaders and groups such as United Way so it can understand what each community needs. It further recognizes that there will be skeptics when its brand comes to town, so it tries to reach out and show them what a store can do for the local economy.

“We love that conversation because it makes us a better company and it makes the programming we do more successful,” he further stated.

BrewHouse Tea Brewing Co. launches India’s first certified Organic ready-to-drink Ice Tea, which is available across all metros & Tier-I cities. Established in the year 2017, BrewHouse always emphasised being all-natural and has recently been certified organic by USDA & India Organic.

The brand is available in five flavors, including Blueberry, Forest Berry, Mojito Lime, Classic Lemon and Classic Peach. All the tea is real-brewed at the brewing facility of the company right before bottling and never made from concentrate or tea powder. So far available only in glass bottles, the brand will soon rollout affordable variants, to cater to a larger market.

With the changing trends in the market and rising inclination towards organic, BrewHouse is all set to disrupt the ice tea market with its superior quality, taste, organic ingredients and preparation from whole tea leaves.

Brewing tea leaves carefully

One of the key differentiators for BrewHouse is their sourcing and production process, where the tea leaves are sourced from small, independent tea farms in the Nilgiris and Assam, which focus on organic methods of cultivation. The farmers pick and roll the tea leaves by hand, which allows them to control the flavour and integrity of the tea to a far greater extent than is possible with mechanised processes that large production units follow.

The hand-made whole leaves are transported to the BrewHouse production unit, where they are carefully brewed, in small batches by the brewers, who work round-the-clock making sure that every batch of brewed tea offers nothing but the best.

Siddharth Jain, Founder and CEO, BrewHouse Tea Brewing Co, said, “The ice tea category in India holds great potential. The size of the ice tea market is minuscule compared to the traditional hot tea market, which presents a huge opportunity. Tea is an integral part of the Indian culture and with the changing preferences for a cleaner, organic products, BrewHouse Ice Tea presents a great alternative for those seeking a natural, healthy refresher or even for those seeking a replace their hot cup of tea with a cold beverage in the summer months.”

“At present, we're available at over 6000 points-of-sale and surging towards 10,000 across hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres, airports, general & modern trade,” he added.

Newly launched Ice Tea 

BrewHouse Organic Ice Teas contain no preservatives and have lower sugar content than most bottled beverages.

The brand is also available on online across platforms like Big Basket, GOQii apart from its presence in offline channels & will be soon expanding to other online retailers.

“Sales in online channels have been very encouraging with repeat purchase rates crossing 50%. With the launch of our affordable variants, we hope that we can get a larger share of sales from online. These bottles will also open up a huge opportunity for us to expand our presence across vending machines, schools & colleges, airlines as well as a large supermarket and hypermarket formats, which were not available to us with the higher-priced glass bottles. As a company, we are very excited about our growth prospects with this move to certified organic and the launch of our affordable range,” Siddharth further stated.

Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, has signed a definitive agreement to buy a fast-casual concept operator, The Habit Burger Grill. This agreement will make Habit Burger Grill the first fast-casual chain in Yum Brands' fast-food-centric portfolio.

The transaction will likely get completed by the end of the second quarter of 2020. It is valued at approximately $375 million. Under the deal, Yum! Brands will acquire Habit Burger for $14 per share in cash.

With this acquisition, Yum! Brands will significantly increase its international portfolio. It will further enable the brand to diversify its portfolio beyond Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut brands.

David Gibbs, CEO of Yum! Brands, said, “As a fast-casual concept with strong unit economics, The Habit Burger Grill is a fantastic addition to the Yum! family and has significant untapped growth potential in the U.S. and internationally.”

“With its delicious burgers and fresh proteins chargrilled over an open flame, The Habit Burger Grill offers consumers a diverse, California-style menu with premium ingredients at a QSR-like value. The transaction is a win-win because it allows us to offer an exciting new investment to our franchisees and to expand an award-winning, trend-forward brand through the power of Yum!'s unmatched scale and strengths in franchising, purchasing and brand-building,” he added.

Portfolio of Habit Burger

Started in 1969, The Habit Burger Grill provides charburgers, hand-filleted and marinated chargrilled chicken sandwiches, sushi-grade chargrilled ahi tuna sandwiches, fresh salads, sides and handmade frozen treats.

The brand launched its first restaurant in Santa Barbara, California. The fast-casual concept is now operating approximately 300 company-owned and franchised restaurants across the US and China.

Russell Bendel, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Habit Burger Grill, stated, “On behalf of The Habit Burger Grill board of directors, this transaction represents an exciting new chapter to strengthen and significantly grow The Habit Burger Grill by leveraging Yum! Brands’ global scale, resources, and franchising capabilities.”

“We’re confident the agreement delivers immediate value to The Habit Burger Grill shareholders and will greatly benefit our beloved brand, team members, franchisees and loyal guests for many years to come,” Bendel further added.

GoliSoda, the ethnic flavoured drink start-up, has ventured into the home desserts segment. The Hyderabad-based company has unveiled eight home-based desserts, including popular traditional desserts, Paayasam/Kheer and Ariselu, to its product portfolio.

In order to popularise these new product additions, the start-up is introducing a three-week-long Paayasam/Kheer festival across its 10 operational outlets in Hyderabad.

Ravi Teja Jallepalli, Founder of GoliSoda, said, “Ethnic desserts come with all the goodness. They are nutritious, stood the test of time and proven to be the base for healthy and joyful life for centuries. Also, we have replaced sugar with jaggery.”

“GoliSoda had launched cloud stores in Bengaluru in 2019, to drive revenue growth and maximise ROI (return on investment) through improved retail execution capabilities. The brand distribution network has also accelerated as its inked partnership with Zomato and Dunzo, alongside Swiggy,” he added.

Growth Plans

As per the market reports, the demand for packaged ethnic drinks has grown 32% over the last three years, providing huge growth potential for brand GoliSoda.

The start-up is aiming a 2.5x growth in 2020 from its last year's revenues of Rs 5 crore. With the addition of the new dessert range, GoliSoda foresees a big potential in brand growth by consolidating the penetration in this segment.

The brand is also eyeing enthusiastic franchisee partners to strengthen its expansion strategy.

Jallepalli added, “The year 2020 is an exciting phase in our growth plan. We have tapped into premium wedding events to further expand consumption volumes in the ethnic drinks market. GoliSoda will also launch its first offline quick service kiosk near NIFT, Hyderabad shortly. Our menu is well-diversified, consumption-focussed from being a thirst quencher menu, we have ventured into a new category, adding desserts such as kheers to stimulate category leadership.”

USP of new dessert range

The new dessert range’s USP is in the age-old wisdom comprehending the freshness of food, local consumption, and cooking methodology. This range, developed by GoliSoda’s R&D (research and development) team, is prepared with milk and indigenous bases such as rice, semiya, rice dumplings, and coconut.

Based on Indian recipes and wisdom, the new ethnic drinks range includes traditional coconut water, sugarcane juice, badam milk, rose milk, fruit milk, Arabian-style pulpy grape juice, Nannari sherbet, spiced buttermilk, watermelon juice and Paanakam. These drinks are served with zero preservatives, and are absolutely fresh and ethnic.

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.

UberEats, one of the world’s largest food delivery networks, has launched operations in Cuttack, its second city in Orissa and 45th in India. UberEats will offer Cuttack consumers a variety of cuisines based on partnerships with a number of popular local restaurants such as Mirchi, Biryani Box, DFC Dada's Biryani, Burger Adda Factory, and many more.

Bansi Kotecha, Head of Operations, India and SA, UberEats, said, “It gives me immense pleasure to announce our launch in Cuttack, our second city in Orissa after Bhubaneswar. Over the last few years, the city has grown rapidly providing an impetus to the food service industry. Backed by best in class technology and a robust delivery network, we believe we will positively contribute to the growth of local food businesses in the city as well as give Cuttack foodies easy access to their favourite cuisines and restaurants at the tap of a button.”

UberEats has its own network of delivery partners which helps local restaurants reach new consumers and deliver their food quickly, efficiently and reliably. UberEats offers its delivery partners a flexible and reliable income opportunity on a schedule that works for them, with the freedom to choose the hours they want to work.

Offering a reliable delivery option, UberEats helps restaurants to expand their capacity and reach, to be able to service their existing and new customers more effectively. 

Imtiyaz, Owner of Mirchi Family Restaurant, stated, “We are delighted to partner with one of the leading food delivery platforms like UberEats. We are looking forward to better serving our customers with seamless delivery experience in the comfort of their homes.”

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 is 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.

As part of its expansion blueprint, Cafe Delhi Heights, a privately-held cafe and fine-dine restaurant chain, will be setting up smaller formats of its flagship brand.

Vikrant Batra, Co-Founder of Cafe Delhi Heights, promoted by hospitality company Batra Bros Foods & Beverages, said, “Lower rentals, quicker break-even and servicing from centralised kitchens will give us more efficiencies on topline and profitability. We intend to go to markets where Capex is low.”

Cafe Delhi Heights will fund its expansion plans internally.

“We have been approached multiple times by private equity players but we’re not opting for external funding in the mid to short term,” Batra stated.

The company’s plans to include smaller format stores come at a time when the industry is dealing with multiple challenges like the withdrawal of the input tax credit and deep discounting by aggregators both of which have impacted their profitability.

Future Plans

The fine-dine restaurant chain’s expansion will involve a mix of large and smaller format outlets, the latter to tap captive markets with relatively lower spending like universities. The chain will also tap railway stations and airports, apart from overseas where it may franchise operations.

Cafe Delhi Heights’ first international outlet is expected to debut in Manchester.

The brand is planning to cross sales of Rs 100 crore in 2019-20.

Restaurant Industry

National Restaurants Association of India’s (NRAI) food services report estimates the industry at more than Rs 4 lakh crore in FY19, forecasted to grow to Rs 5.5 lakh crore by 2021.

In November 2017, the government slashed GST rates on restaurants to 5% from 18% but scrapped input tax credit which the industry said escalated capital expenses and rentals by 15-18%.

Batra stated, “The withdrawal of the input tax credit has been a big setback on profitability and margins.”

Sri Krishna Sweets is planning to reach 100 branches by 2020.

Currently, the company has 75 branches, including Tamil Nadu (48), Maharastra (4), Karala (6), Karnataka (7), UAE (5) and Telangana 4. Sri Krishna Sweets aims to add 25 new branches during the next two years across PAN India and UAE.

Vaishnavi Krishnan, Director of Sri Krishna Sweets, said, “For the year 2020 we would like to touch the milestone of 100 branches spread across India. We want to strengthen international presence especially in UAE and also strengthen the international supply channels. We want to introduce a new variety of products by understanding the new generation.”

Sri Krishna Sweets is the pioneer in launching sweets made out of 100% pure ghee and a stand-alone sweet stall with clean and well-done interiors. The company is also exporting sweets to the United States, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia through the supply channels.

Offering 250 varieties of sweets, Sri Krishna Sweets had introduced modern packaging system.

Outlet launch in Hyderabad

Recently, Sri Krishna Sweets has also opened its 75th outlet at Nacharam in Hyderabad. This is the brand’s fourth outlet in Hyderabad.

Sri Krishna Sweets has its outlets in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra. It also has retail stores in international markets including UAE, United States, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia.

Apart from the newly opened outlet at Nacharam in Hyderabad, Sri Krishna Sweets also has outlets at Ameerpet, Kukatpally and Secunderabad. With the new launch, the brand is offering 4 kg of sugar as a gift for every purchase of 1 kg sweet at their Nacharam outlet.

Sri Krishna Sweets was started as a small retail sweet shop in Coimbatore in 1979. It has over the years expanded and opened its outlets across the country and also abroad.

The company is known for its Mysurpa, the softer version of Mysrupak, which is made of 100 per cent pure ghee. Mysurpa was invented by its CMD, Dr M Krishnan. The CMD stated that standardisation of recipes for input and output products, rewarding HR policies are the foundation stones of the Sri Krishna Sweets growth story.

ZUZU Hospitality (ZUZU) has appointed François-Alexandre Léonard as its Head of Operations. While focusing on ZUZU’s next phase of expansion in the region, he will oversee new hotel onboarding, channel operations and pricing optimisation teams across the company.

Southeast Asia’s leading hospitality management services startup is eyeing to increase online revenue for the unchained hotels in the region. The company empowers these independent hotels by enabling them to access the latest technologies and skilled resources, previously only available to large chains.

Vikram Malhi, Co-Founder of ZUZU Hospitality, said, “As we continue to aggressively scale our business across Southeast Asia while focusing on delivering a high level of service to hotels, there couldn’t be a better time for this appointment. With François-Alexandre onboard as Head of Operations, we can lean on his invaluable experience in scaling large operational teams to help us grow ZUZU Hospitality across Asia.”

François-Alexandre was earlier a COO at Doctolib, a French healthtech unicorn. He comes with considerable experience in operational management and customer support.

François-Alexandre Léonard, Head of Operations at ZUZU Hospitality, stated, “Looking at the highly fragmented hospitality industry and the business/technology challenges that independent hotels face in Asia, I am convinced there’s potential to build a unicorn in this space. I am impressed with ZUZU Hospitality’s business model, technology platform and experienced team. I am super excited to be joining them and I look forward to leveraging my startup experience in streamlining overall operations to help them scale across the region.”

Food and beverages company Intergrow Brands Pvt Ltd has raised Rs 80 crore funding from Investcorp, a Bahrain-based private equity firm. The Kerala-based company, earlier known as Intergrow Foods & Beverages Pvt Ltd, is part of Synthite Group, a value-added spices company.

Ashok Mani, MD and CEO, Intergrow Brands, said, “The funds will be used for the market expansion of our brands, Kitchen Treasures and Sprig, which is a premium gourmet brand.”

Launched in 2013, Intergrow’s flagship brand Kitchen Treasures has around 70 products in categories like spices, masalas, pickles and culinary paste. Kitchen Treasures has emerged as the second biggest spices brand in Kerala within a span of five years. The company is now planning to expand the brand to the rest of the country as well as overseas, including the GCC, the US and Australia.

Intergrow Brands has expanded its profile with the launch of the premium Sprig brand. It is all set to become an innovative national player. 

Starbucks has expanded its delivery service to five new markets in the United States (US). The company’s delivery will now be available in Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, Philadelphia and New Jersey. Its delivery is further expanding in the New York metro.

Starbucks delivery program was launched in partnership with Uber Eats late last year. The delivery is now available in 16 major US markets and will reach national availability early next year.

Rosalind G Brewer, Group President and Chief Operating Officer, Starbucks, said, "Following our recent commitment to make delivery available nationwide in 2020, we are excited to bring Starbucks Delivers to five more major US markets."

"The expansion of Starbucks Delivers is part of our continuous effort to enhance the retail experience and provide customers another convenient option to enjoy Starbucks wherever they are," Brewer further added.

Recently, the coffee chain has also invested heavily in its delivery service outside of the US. It has unveiled delivery programs in over 15 international markets like Canada, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Singapore and Vietnam.

Starbucks also is rapidly expanding in the UK, introducing into 11 major markets in partnership with Uber Eats.

MOD Super Fast Pizza Holdings, LLC is looking at expanding its purpose-led fast casual brand into Canada. The brand has signed a development agreement for Canada with V.I. Pizza Inc.

Under this agreement, V.I. Pizza will bring five MOD locations to the island over the next several years.

Scott Svenson, Co-Founder and CEO, MOD, said, “We are confident that MOD will translate well in the Canadian marketplace, and that the V.I. Pizza team will be great partners as we further expand our footprint. With Vancouver Island’s close proximity to our home base of Seattle, this feels like the perfect first step into Canada.”

“For us, the most important factor in selecting our franchisees is finding those who not only share our business values, but are committed to cultivating the MOD culture in their stores. The V.I. Pizza team is aligned with our belief that taking care of people, and using the platform of MOD to make a positive impact, leads to a successful business. As we continue to grow MOD’s footprint, we hope to identify additional like-minded partners who are interested in helping us expand across Canada,” Scott further stated.

Presently, MOD Pizza has more than 455 locations system-wide, with an additional over 20 stores slated to launch by the end of 2019.

Jim Hayden, COO of V.I. Pizza Inc, added, “We’re absolutely thrilled to introduce MOD Pizza to Canada, and to share its compelling combination of superior food quality, value, speed and most importantly, its platform for doing good. MOD embodies everything we believe a brand should stand for – a people-first culture, a community-driven approach, and a best-in-class business model. We can’t wait to debut the first store in our home market of Vancouver Island.”

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Swiggy is now present in 500 cities across India, matching rival Zomato's reach in the country. The foodtech unicorn further aims to expand to 600 cities by December 2019.

The food delivery platform has added 60,000 new restaurants in the past six months. In the last month alone, Swiggy has launched its services in 130 cities.

With the latest expansion, more than 350 million or one in four Indians can now access the food delivery platform in India.

Vivek Sunder, Chief Operating Officer of Swiggy, said, “With a presence in 500 cities and 75 universities, Swiggy already has the widest reach in the country. We will further expand this to 600 cities and 200 universities by December 2019.”

“Swiggy's vision is to elevate the quality of life of consumers by offering unparalleled convenience. As we work towards enabling this for a billion Indians, expanding to tier-3 and tier-4 cities is a critical step,” he added.

Swiggy has on-boarded 60,000 new restaurants in the last six months. In tier-3 and tier-4 cities specifically, the platform has on-boarded more than 15,000 restaurants in the last six months.

Sunder further stated, “Our growing fleet of over 2.1 lakh active delivery partners have more income opportunities due to the scale and offerings of Swiggy.”

Apart from expanding to smaller towns, Swiggy has also strengthened its service to over 75 universities like IIT Roorkee, NIT Kurukshetra, IIT Kharagpur, NIT Calicut, BITS Pilani, and Lovely Professional University (LPU) among others.

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Amazon is planning to enter India’s rising cloud kitchen market. The company will be launching its first cloud kitchen in Bengaluru to take on Zomato and Swiggy.

In India, Amazon’s foray into the food delivery market surfaced earlier this year. The firm is in advanced discussions with restaurants to fix commission and delivery fees. Amazon has decided to charge a 6% to 10% commission when not fulfilling the food delivery, while 18% to 22% if the restaurant uses its delivery service.

Amazon will likely introduce the service in December 2019. The company will run the service in a partnership with Prione Business Services, the local arm of VC firm Catamaran Venture.

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Luckin Coffee, Chinese rival to Starbucks, is forming a joint venture with Louis Dreyfus Company, Dutch-headquartered agricultural goods producer and seller, to start a Luckin Juice business in China.

Both companies inked an agreement for developing the business that will sell orange, lemon and apple juices. They are also aiming to bottle and brand other fruit and vegetable juices.

Jinyi Guo, Co-Founder and Senior Vice-President, Luckin, said, “China is the fastest-growing NFC market globally and, together, Luckin and LDC see a significant opportunity to offer high quality, sustainably developed NFC juices to the Chinese consumer.”

Currently, Luckin has over 2,300 locations. It is looking at surpassing the 3,700 stores Starbucks has in China by the end of the year.

James Zhou, Global Vice President and Regional Head, Louis Dreyfus Company in North Asia, stated, “Our areas of expertise are totally complimentary, with LDC's know-how in managing a sustainable juice value chain and Luckin's knowledge of the Chinese consumer, marketing and digital platform know-how and established consumer base.”

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Philippines-based fast food chain Jollibee Food Corps is planning to expand in the United States, Canada, and China. The expansion plans come following Jollibee’s $350 million acquisition of US coffee chain Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL)

These expansion plans are expected to include more mergers and acquisitions.

The fast food chain is eyeing to earn 30% of its revenue in the US in a decade’s time. It is further looking to lift revenue in China to 30% of overall sales, while the Philippines would fall to 30%.

Ernesto Tanmantiong, CEO of Jollibee, said, “We want to spread our portfolio and risk. There’s a huge opportunity out there.”

In 2018, Jollibee Food Corps also acquired Denver-based fast food restaurant Smashburger. As of 2018, the burger chain has 370 outlets located in 9 countries.

Jollibee is aiming to have six brands each in the United States and China. It has 16 brands or franchises to its name.

Currently, Jollibee has five brands in the US market. The Philippines-based chain has three brands in China, including the Dunkin Donuts franchise, as well as the Yonghe King noodle and Hong Zhuang Yuan congee restaurant chains.

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Everstone Group, the master franchise owner of Burger King in India, has infused Rs 45 crore and a loan facility of Rs 150 crore into the American fast food chain. The capital will go into launching new stores, refurbishing existing ones and transaction-related expenses.

With the fresh infusion, Burger King India’s paid-up capital has gone up to Rs 366.48 crore. It has also increased its authorised capital to Rs 405 crore from Rs 350 crore.

Mohit Yadav, Founder of business intelligence platform Veratech Intelligence, said, “The deficit in current paid up of Rs 366.48 crore and authorised capital of Rs 405 crore leads to the inference that there could be another round of capital infusion from Everstone in the near future.”

“The line of credit of up to Rs 150 crore, which Burger King can borrow in 12 months, demonstrates Everstone’s confidence in its Indian business to generate considerable cash flow in coming years for timely service of the debt. Burger King India, which runs more than 214 outlets across the country, has no borrowings as of now,” he added.

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Yum China Holdings, a leading Chinese restaurant firm, will buy a controlling interest in the Huang Ji Huang group, a Beijing-based Chinese-style casual dining franchise business. With this acquisition, Yum China targets to gain a stronger foothold and enhanced know-how in the Chinese dining space.

The deal is expected to close in early 2020, subjective to the satisfaction of closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Founded in 2004, Huang Ji Huang group has more than 640 restaurants in China and internationally. The group is operating primarily under a franchise model. Its brand portfolio consists of "Huang Ji Huang," an industry-leading simmer pot brand, and "San Fen Bao," a newly opened Chinese fast food concept in China.

Yum China is the largest restaurant company in China. It has more than over 8,700 restaurants in over 1,300 cities as of June 30.

Lite Bite Foods Group is looking to raise about Rs 250 crore funds from private equity firms. It eyes to make its airport franchise business a separate entity. 

Lite Bite Foods is the food and beverage retail business led by Dabur Group Chairman Amit Burman. It is co-promoted by Burman and Rohit Aggarwal. 

The group’s promoters are planning to dilute a minority stake in the retail foods business, which presently has an enterprise value of Rs 1,000-1,200 crore.

The official said, “Lite Bite Foods proposes to induct a private equity player into the retail business and has mandated investment bank KPMG to look for investors. Both the retail foods and airport businesses contribute equally to sales.”

Rohit Aggarwal stated, “We are looking forward to entering a new growth phase and see enormous potential to expand our overseas business.”

Amazon is looking at using Prime Now, its two-hour delivery platform, for its venture into food delivery business in India. With the addition of a food delivery segment to its Prime offering, the company will not only bring in more daily users but also boost the number of transactions.

Amazon India has also held preliminary discussions with Foodpanda, Ola's food delivery unit, for a partnership that could be later extended to an acquisition. It has further approached Uber Eats for the same.

Prime Now, earlier known as Amazon Now, is likely to be used as a platform concentrating on high-frequency use cases of food and grocery delivery.

A source aware of the development said, “Amazon has spent some time debating whether to build food delivery from scratch or go for partnership and investments. They seem to have opted for the latter. They have held talks with both Uber and Ola for it. Prime Now cannot be sustained just on the grocery delivery as the logistics team has questioned inefficient utilisation of delivery fleet for the express delivery platform.”